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Nap le on \ 
Bonaparte \ 

A HISTORY 
WRITTEN FOR BOYS 

By 

W^illiam C. Sprague 

Editor of "The American Boy" 



ILLUSTRATED 






^. Wessels Company 

New York 

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Copyrighted, 1903, by A. Wessels Company 
New York 

Printed October, 1903 






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T/ie Heintzemann Press, Boston 



PREFACE 

At first thought it may seem that there is 
Uttle excuse for a new Life of Napoleon. A 
Uttle consideration and investigation, however, 
will develop the fact that few if any attempts 
have been made to write the story of ' ' The 
Little Corporal " in a way to interest boys and 
at the same time to present the salient points 
of the life truthfully and impartially in small 
compass. Whether I have succeeded in doing 
this to the boy's satisfaction he will have to 
be the judge. 

In the writing of the story I have had re- 
course to the many books dealing with the 
subject, both friendly and unfriendly to the 
"Man of Destiny," and have tried to take a 
conservative, middle course in my treatment of 
it. I am convinced, first, last and all the time, 
that out of the turmoil and strife, the error 
and sin, the inordinate ambition and the folly 
of the days of the great Revolution, God has 
wrought much for the betterment of France 
and of the world at large. 



PREFACE 

I owe much to the works of Scott, Lock- 
hart, Abbott, The Berkely Men and others for 
data, and in the use of it trust that i have not 
overstepped the bounds of good usage and good 
conscience. 

William C. S Prague. 

October 1, 1903. 



Contents 



CHAPTER I 

Corsica and the Corsicans — Napoleon's parentage and birth 
— His childhood — At school at Autun — At school at 
Brienne — At school at Paris 9 

CHAPTER n 
The French Revolution 28 

CHAPTER HI 
Napoleon's First Seven Years as a Soldier 35 

CHAPTER IV 
Napoleon's First Great Military Success — He Marries 46 

CHAPTER V 
Sardinia Humbled and Austria in Retreat 54 

CHAPTER VI 

The Conqueror of Italy 67 

CHAPTER VII 

Peace with Austria — The Court of Montebello 81 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Egyptian Campaign — Battle of the Pyramids 91 

[5] 



CHAPTER IX 
The Battle of the Nile — The Syrian Campaign 99 

CHAPTER X 

Napoleon in Paris — The Revolution of 1799 — The Consu- 
late 112 

CHAPTER XI 

Napoleon Chief Consul — The Crossing of the Alps — Ma- 
rengo 118 

CHAPTER XII 

Peace — Reforms — Consul for Life — War with England — 

Conspiracies 131 

CHAPTER XIII 

Napoleon Emperor — Death of Nelson — Austerlitz — Jena 

— Eylau — Treaty of Tilsit 142 

CHAPTER XIV 
Conquest of Spain and Portugal — War with Austria 160 

CHAPTER XV 

Josephine divorced — Napoleon marries Maria Louisa of Aus- 
tria — War with Russia — The Retreat from Moscow 175 

CHAPTER XVI 
The Prussian Campaign 192 

CHAPTER XVII 

France Invaded — Napoleon Overthrown and Deposed 202 

CHAPTER XVIII 

Elba — The One Hundred Days — Waterloo — St. Helena — 

The End 216 



[6] 



List of Illustrations 

Napoleon Crossing the Alps Frontispiece 

The Battle of Rivoli Face Page 71 " 

Napoleon, Emperor 142 

Murat at Jena 154 

The Battle of Friedland 158 

The Retreat from Russia 188 ' 

Napoleon's Retreat, Battle of "Waterloo 228 -^ 



[7] 



Napoleon Bonaparte 



CHAPTER I. 

CORSICA AND THE CORSICANS NAPOLEON^S 

PARENTAGE AND BIRTH HIS CHILDHOOD 

AT SCHOOL AT AUTUN — AT SCHOOL AT 

BRIENNE — AT SCHOOL AT PARIS 

In the sunny Mediterranean, one hundred 
and six miles southeast of Nice on the coast of 
France, ninety-eight miles south of Genoa, 
where Christopher Columbus was born, and 
fifty-four miles west of Tuscany, lies a rocky 
island known as Corsica, the birthplace of Na- 
poleon Bonaparte. The island is not much 
larger than the State of Connecticut, and nine- 
tenths of it is uncultivated. Wild and for- 
bidding mountains traverse it from end to end, 
some of whose peaks carry the eternal snows. 
Its lowlands are carpeted with luxuriant and 

[9] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

varied vegetation, and its uplands are clothed 
with magnificent forests. 

Few countries of the size of Corsica have 
produced more illustrious characters, or wit- 
nessed more thrilling achievements than has 
she. War was ever the principal occupation of 
her inhabitants. Scarcely a generation of Cor- 
sicans but has heard the tocsin ring. Their 
fight has not been the fight of aggressors but 
the fight of men and women battling for their 
homes and their lives, falling prey to each suc- 
ceeding world power — a very shuttlecock on 
the battledore of fate. This has had much to do 
with creating Corsican character — revengeful, 
ferocious, liberty-loving, hospitable, simple of 
manners. 

In early days the Phocasans (an Asiatic 
people) settled here, but were compelled later 
to submit to the Etruscans, and then to the 
Carthagenians. The all-conquering Romans 
wrested it from the latter and used it as a place 
of banishment, and here the old Roman philoso- 
pher Seneca was compelled to spend eight years 
of his life. Then came the Vandals, Byzan- 
tines, Ostragoths, Franks, Saracens, Pisans, 
Genoese, and finally the French. 

Modern history first finds the Corsicans 
fighting for independence against the Genoese. 
[10] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

In 1735 the former were triumphant, pro- 
claimed their independence, and declared that 
the people were the only source of the laws, 
Corsica now became a little democracy, broken 
up into village communities that were self- 
ruhng, but all united in a confederation for 
mutual protection and defence. Considering 
the fact that the nations of Europe had at this 
time almost without exception despotic govern- 
ments and were ruled by hereditary kings, we 
wonder at seeing on this little island not only 
the seeds but the growing plant of freedom and 
equality. 

Corsican history is full of the bravery of this 
little people surrounded on all sides by ene- 
mies, and fighting, generation after generation, 
for their homes and their rights. But our story 
has not so much to do with Corsica as it has 
to do with Corsica's greatest son, Napoleon 
Bonaparte. 

Genoa ceded Corsica to France August 6, 
1764, at a time when she had nothing to cede, 
and France at once set out to take possession 
of her new territory. The Corsicans resisted, 
but were unable to defend themselves against 
the tremendous odds, and on June 12, 1769, 
the island became a part of France. Just two 
months and three days later, August 15th, 
[11] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, a 
port town of Corsica, and hence escaped but 
a few days being born an alien. Dumas, the 
great French writer, says : " The new-born 
child breathed the air that was hot with civil 
hates, and the bell which sounded his baptism 
still quivered with the tocsin." 

By blood, the young Napoleon was Italian. 
The name Bonaparte appears in the annals of 
the early Italian states, and often with distinc- 
tion. His immediate ancestors were said to 
have come from Tuscany. His father, Charles 
Bonaparte, married, at the age of eighteen, 
Letitia Bamolino, a Corsican girl of fifteen, 
distinguished for her beauty, high spirit, intelli- 
gence, judgment, common sense, inflexible 
courage, frugality, industry, loftiness and 
energy of character. Charles Bonaparte was 
a handsome, high-spirited man, a lawyer by 
profession, his degree in law having been taken 
in Italy. The family were not rich, and 
neither were they poor. They were looked 
upon as among the people of gentle blood and, 
as we shall see later, when Napoleon made 
application for admission to a military school, 
he was able to trace his nobility back through 
three generations, as required of an applicant. 

Napoleon was one of thirteen children born 
[12] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

to Charles and Letitia Bonaparte. Those who 
grew to manhood and womanhood were Joseph, 
Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, Jerome, Ehza, Caro- 
line, and Pauhne. 

After the war between France and Corsica 
ended. General Marboeuf, who became the 
French Governor of Corsica, made the home 
of Charles Bonaparte his favorite resort, and 
afterwards this French count was of assistance 
to Napoleon when the latter came to seek a mili- 
taiy education. Through the influence of 
General Marboeuf, Napoleon's father was 
made assessor of the high court of Ajaccio and 
a member of the council of Corsican nobles; 
later he became a representative of these 
nobles at the court of King Louis of France. 

We, of course, want to know something 
about Napoleon's childhood. The child being 
father to the man, perhaps we can find some 
explanation of his wonderful career in the con- 
ditions of his early life. We have seen that 
he was one of a number of children, and that 
the home was not a home of ease and idleness. 
The little Napoleon had no doubt his share of 
the work to do. How well he did it we are left 
only to surmise from the nature of the man 
into which he developed. He says of himself 
that he was not a good-natured boy and that he 
[13] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

was inclined to be morose and quarrelsome; 
that he was always getting into trouble with his 
brothers. We can almost venture to guess that 
he was incHned to be imperious and want his 
own way, which does not always make a boy 
popular nor conduce to peace. He must have 
been something of a warrior from the begin- 
ning. But how could he well have been other- 
wise? The blood of warriors was in his veins. 
His father, and his father's father, had fol- 
lowed the Corsican patriots into the field and 
fought for home and country. It is said that 
even his mother, a very short time before his 
birth, followed the troops in the campaign 
against the French invader. In his boyhood he 
hated France, the country of which later he was 
to be the idol. The atmosphere about him was 
filled with war. He heard nothing but the sto- 
ries of fights, of plots and counterplots, of 
wrongs and of rebellion. No wonder he longed 
for a military education, the highest education 
then known, fit only for the sons of nobles. 
Historians all tell us that the toy which he most 
prized was a little brass cannon weighing thirty 
pounds. This toy he planted on mimic bat- 
teries thrown up among the rocks, and there he 
pretended he was a Corsican army defending 
his country from the hated Frenchmen. There 
[ 14 ] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

are indications that he early dreamed that some 
day he would rise like Paoli, the Corsican hero 
of whom his father must have told him, drive 
the Frenchmen from his native shores and 
bring back the days of Corsican independ- 
ence. 

There was one member of the family whom 
we must not forget. He is known in Napo- 
leon's Memoirs as " Uncle Fesch." Napole- 
on's grandmother married a second htisband, 
an army officer by the name of Fesch, and from 
this union came a son Joseph, who was the 
Uncle Fesch of history. From Uncle Fesch 
Napoleon learned his alphabet. 

There are two spots in Corsica near together 
that tourists visit; one is the house in which 
Napoleon was born, a yellowish-gray plas- 
tered house of three stories, which still 
remains. In it is a small room, with two win- 
dows, a cupboard in the wall, and a marble 
chimney-place, in which Napoleon was born; 
the other is a place about a mile from Ajaccio, 
which was the summer home of the Bonapartes. 
Here is a sort of a summer-house under a 
rock which stands out in full view of the sea. 
Napoleon, as a boy, loved to play here, and 
later as a young man he brought his books to 
this spot, and lay looking out on the sea and 
[15] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

dreaming the wonderful dreams so soon to 
become realities. 

In his sixth year Napoleon was sent' to a 
" dame's school; " and we now begin to see him 
developing the traits of character that after- 
wards distinguished him. At this school he did 
what many another little boy has done — fell in 
love with a little girl; her name was Giacomi- 
netta. Frequently they were seen walking 
hand in hand. Napoleon was a handsome boy, 
but he was careless abotit his dress, and this 
latter fact is indicated by a httle couplet that 
mischievous boys in the school composed and 
called out to him whenever they saw the youth- 
ful lovers together: 

" Napoleon with his stockings half off 
Makes love to Giacominetta." 

Now the time has come, so important in a 
boy's life, when the young Napoleon must leave 
home to get an education. It was the ambition 
of every French boy at that time to attend a 
military school, but it was not possible for every 
French boy to do so, as these schools were 
largely reserved for the rich and the nobility. 
Napoleon did not belong to a rich family, but 
he was able to trace his nobility through several 
[16] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

generations. He wanted to enter the military 
school at Brienne, a town in France, and now 
it was fortunate that the family had the 
friendly aid of General Marboeuf, for it was 
through him that the application of young 
Napoleon was made and accepted. This was 
in the year 1776, when he was a little under 
seven years of age and the very year in which 
the American colonies declared their independ- 
ence of Great Britain. The boy had another 
difficulty to overcome, for he could not speak 
French; at least, he did it only imperfectly, 
for, as we have learned, his family and their 
neighbors were Italians. So before going to 
Brienne, he was sent to school to the Bishop 
of Autun, and he himself leaves evidence in 
his writings that his parting with his mother 
gave him great grief, and that through all his 
life he remembered how sad he felt on that 
occasion. 

We are told that at the school at Autun he 
was a thoughtful and gloomy boy; we need 
not think this strange when we remember how 
young he was and that he was away from home 
for the first time in his life, in a strange 
land among boys whose language he did not 
understand. The boys nicknamed him, and 
made fun of his origin. The httle island of 
[H] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Corsica was despised by them, for it had only 
been a part of the French domain a few years 
and its inhabitants were even then scarcely con- 
quered. Probably young Napoleon incurred 
the enmity of his schoolmates by his loyalty to 
his native land and to his people. If so, all 
honor to him! 

Paoli, the great Corsican leader under 
whom his father had fought, was a hero in 
the boy's eyes. He could hear nothing said 
of Paoli or his countrymen without becoming 
angry and taking up their cause. Most of the 
boys with whom he associated were the sons 
of nobles, and many of them were slipplied 
with better clothing, better furnishings, and 
more money than he had. They made fun of 
his poverty ; they taunted him with not having 
as good blood in his veins as they had; and 
we have a record of his replying to one of them, 
" I would rather be the son of a peasant than 
descended from any of the petty tyrants of 
Italy." Some one said in his presence, " The 
Corsicans are a lot of cowards," and his reply 
was, " Had you French been but four to one 
against us you would never have conquered 
us, but you were ten to one." His teacher then 
said, " But you had a good general, PaoH." 
[18] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

" Yes," replied the boy, " and I would like to 
resemble him." 

JSTapoleon says of himself that at this time 
he was headstrong, that nothing overawed him 
or disconcerted him, that he was quarrelsome, 
mischievous, and afraid of no one. But this 
temperament was not the result of bad training, 
for his mother had been very particular about 
his conduct — that mother of whom he once, 
when he had grown to manhood, exclaimed, 
"Ah, what a woman! Where look for her 
equal? " 

On May 12, 1779, Napoleon left Autun, and 
seven days later, at about ten years of age, 
entered the military school of Brienne. He 
says of himself: " On entering Brienne I was 
delighted. My head began to ferment. I 
wanted to learn, to know, to distinguish myself. 
I devoured the books that came in my way." 
The teachers in this school were incompetent 
monks. His schoolmates were proud, idle, ex- 
travagant young aristocrats, most of them the 
sons of nobles. Here the experience he had at 
Autun was repeated. The boys made fun of 
his father's being a lawyer and reviled his 
mother. 

Everything conspired against him. In per- 
sonal appearance he was pitifully thin, short, 
[19] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
awkward. He was poor, and, what was more, 
he was bashful. He had come from a country 
where the people had learned to rtile themselves 
and where there was equality of right, into an 
atmosphere of servile submission to inherited 
rank. Despised and neglected, he became 
moody and discontented and withdrew from 
society. Alone with his books, he studied and 
planned how some day, despite the unequal 
chances, he would make these proud fellows 
bow the knee. He studied hard, particularly 
in mathematics, and the records of the school 
at Brienne show that he stood first in that 
study. This, too, no doubt, created jealousies 
that made matters hard for him. He stood 
fairly well in history and geography, but Latin 
and German and ornamental branches he dis- 
liked. 

Every student in the school received a bit 
of ground for his own use, and by some 
means Napoleon got the use of not only his 
own but of two others, the whole of which he 
hedged in, and here in seclusion he studied and 
dreamed. The more he withdrew himself from 
the society of the boys the less did they leave 
him alone. They followed him about calling 
him by his nicknames. Often he would remain 
silent, but at times with bursts of anger he 
[20] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

would break out and defy them single-handed. 
Instead of compelling him by their taunts and 
abuses to ape their manners and despise his 
country and his countrymen, it drove him into 
that very state of mind which prompted him 
later to do the things that have made him fa- 
mous. It gave him a hungering for distinction, 
not the kind of distinction that birth gives, but 
the kind that is won by work. Having felt the 
abuse of the slanderer he came to have a deep 
dread of disgrace and love of fame that would 
enable him to overcome inequalities of station. 
He learned to hate the nobility and to espouse 
the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. 
At times he broke out in torrents of invective 
against that minister of France who had 
brought war upon Corsica. To some one who 
had spoken slightingly of Paoli he cried out, 
" Paoli was a great man; he loved his country. 
I will never forgive my father for his share in 
uniting Corsica to France. He should have 
followed Paoli," meaning that when Paoli re- 
fused to surrender to the French at the end 
of the war and left the island his father should 
have gone with him. 

Nothwithstanding the treatment his fellow 
students visited upon him he compelled their 
respect at times, and so it has been and always 
[21] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

will be with the boy who goes straight ahead 
and does his duty. In the school it was the 
custom to give each boy in turn charge for a 
certain time of the conduct of other boys. On 
such occasions when young Napoleon was 
chosen to take charge he never tattled. Then, 
too, he was brave, and when an opportunity 
arose requiring a strong, brave heart Napoleon 
became a hero even among those who affected 
to despise him. 

One winter Napoleon suggested that the 
students engage in mimic war. A snow fort 
was built, and Napoleon, first at the head of the 
defenders and then at the head of the attacking 
party, displayed something of the wonderful 
generalship that afterwards distinguished him. 
He studied his plan of attack or his plan of 
defence as a general would map out a real 
campaign. His imperious nature showed itself 
in the mimic attack on the snow fort when with 
a chunk of ice he knocked a boy down who 
disobeyed his orders. Afterwards, at Paris, 
when Napoleon was attending a higher military 
school, his biographers tell us that he was often 
seen at night in the fort drawing plans of 
attack and defence. 

At another time, while at Brienne, the boys 
of the school had been refused permission to 
[ 22 1 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

attend a fair which was being held in the 
neighborhood. Marshahng a number of the 
students together, he led them in an attempt to 
undermine the wall around their yard in order 
to effect their escape. 

These incidents may, perhaps, be laid to 
boyish love of adventure, but they all indicated 
the uncurbed, imperious nature of the boy. 
Such a boy could not surrender his prejudices. 
He would not truckle or bow down to unjust 
authority. He was the kind of a boy to clench 
his fists and grind his teeth and vow, in the soli- 
tude of his room, undying hatred of shams and 
pretenses. He would stamp his feet with im- 
patience that the time was coming so slowly 
when he could show these boastful aristocrats 
that even without title and without wealth, a 
poor and despised Corsican, he would some day 
cause them to tremble. " I hope," he said, 
" some day to give Corsica her freedom," and 
he made every hour of his student life bend to 
the attainment of this ambition. 

His nature as a boy was a strange mix- 
ture of good and evil. While he was unsocial, 
quarrelsome, imperious, headstrong, and at 
times even savage toward his fellows, he was 
submissive, upright, thoughtful, exemplary, 
industrious, obedient in his deportment toward 
[23] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

his teachers. He read ahnost constantly, and 
the books that he read were such books as 
" Plutarch's Lives " and the poetry of Os- 
sian, books filled with stories of heroes, men 
of giant courage who did great things. He 
refused to borrow money, notwithstanding 
that he was poor and suffered the taunts of 
his fellow students by reason of his poor 
clothes. We even hear of his writing home 
to his father, in his despair entreating him 
to take him away from the school or give him 
enough to support himself. His refusal to 
borrow was a noble one. " I have no right," 
he said, " to add to the burdens of my mother 
by borrowing money that I may not be able to 
repay." 

He declaimed against the luxury of the 
young men about him who idled away their 
time and dressed and lived extravagantly. He 
denounced the French system of military edu- 
cation, even writing a letter to his instructors in 
which he drew a contrast between the sort of 
education the boys of France were getting and 
that which the Spartan youth enjoyed. Being 
reproved for his ingratitude as a pensioner of 
the king, for the schools were supported by 
the king's bounty, he broke out in furious in- 
dignation. " Silence! " said the gentleman at 
[24] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

whose table he was sitting. " It ill becomes you 
who are educated by the king's bounty, to 
speak as you do." The boy was nearly stifled 
with rage, and turning red and pale by turns, 
he cried out, " I am not educated at the king's 
expense but at the expense of the nation," and 
by " nation " he meant the people who paid 
the taxes to support the royal bounties. In his 
letter to the head of the school decrying against 
the luxury of the young nobles, he said no man 
could be fitted for military life without habits 
of independence. He advised that the young 
men be obliged to clean their own rooms, groom 
their own horses, and inure themselves to hard- 
ship. " If I were King of France," he cried, 
" I would change this state of things very 
quick." 

It was the custom every year to select three 
of the best scholars from each of the twelve 
provincial military schools to be sent to Paris 
to the higher school. It fell to the good fortune 
of Napoleon five years after his entering the 
school at Brienne to be thus selected for promo- 
tion, and on the 30th of October, 1784, he en- 
tered Paris as a student — that Paris that 
afterwards was to cry " Vive I'Empereur! " 
in a frenzy of joy at sight of him. 

In an old manuscript which belonged to the 
[25] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

then minister of war, in an article under the 
head, " School of Brienne," appears the fol- 
lowing: "Bonaparte, five feet, six and one- 
half inches. Good constitution. Health excel- 
lent. Character mild, honest, grateful. Con- 
duct exemplary. He has always distinguished 
himself by his application to mathematics. 
Understands history and geography tolerably 
well. Is indifferently skilled in merely orna- 
mental studies. Would make an excellent 
sailor. Deserves to be passed on to the school 
at Paris." 

On Napoleon's certificate which was fur- 
nished him on his graduation from Brienne, was 
written these words: "Character masterful, 
imperious, and headstrong." His old history 
teacher, in a list of his scholars, wrote: " Napo- 
leon Bonaparte — a Corsican by birth and 
character — he will do something great, if cir- 
cumstances favor him." Hear this prophecy 
and then turn to the words of Lockhart, the his- 
torian, " Napoleon was the greatest actor the 
world has known since the time of Caesar. He 
moved over the earth as a meteor traverses the 
sky, astonishing and startling all by the sudden- 
ness and brilliancy of his career. The earth will 
feel his power till its last cycle shall have been 
[26] 



HIS CHILDHOOD 

run." Thus did his old master see the man in 
the boy. 

Of Napoleon's course in the school at Paris 
we know but little. We hear once of his having 
written disrespectfully of the king and of his 
being ordered to burn the letter. One says of 
him at Paris, " He showed a great memory and 
great judgment, and here his mind appeared 
to those about him to have been molded in an 
antique cast." 

In August, 1785, when at the age of sixteen, 
he was examined by the celebrated mathemati- 
cian. La Place, he obtained the brevet of a 
second lieutenant of artillery in the regiment 
of La Fere. He at once joined the regiment 
which at that time was stationed at Valence. 
He and a comrade started from Paris to join 
the regiment, and on the way their money gave 
out, compelling them to make the remainder 
of their journey on foot. Joining his regiment, 
he was almost immediately promoted to the 
first lieutenancy. He was now in the army of 
France, enrolled under the banner of King 
Louis XVI., and in the path that was so soon 
to lead to almost unparalleled glory. 



[27] 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

Leaving Bonaparte, the sixteen-year-old 
lieutenant of artillery, with his regiment at 
Valence, let us take a glance at the condition 
of France at that time — that France which 
was about to become the theatre of the most 
terrible drama the world has ever seen. It can 
only be a glance because history moved won- 
derfidly fast near the close of the eighteenth 
century, and the space at our command is lim- 
ited. Still something must be said of the great 
French Revolution and the causes that led up 
to it, or we shall fail to understand much that 
we shall hereafter read. 

At just about the time when the American 
colonies were engaged in a war with the mother 
country to rid themselves of the burdens of 
unjust taxation and to set up for themselves 
a free and independent government of which 
liberty and equality should be the watchwords, 
. [28] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

the French people were manifesting an impa- 
tience with their king and giving signs of the 
approach of that time when they should throw 
oiF the rule of a sovereign whose right to rule 
lay solely in the fact that he was the descendant 
of a king, and declare for the principles of 
democracy. Indeed, within seventeen years 
from the time of the signing of the Declara- 
tion of Independence the head of Louis XVI. 
dropped from the block, to be followed soon 
after by that of his queen, Marie Antoinette, 
and the rule of kings and queens in France, 
at least for a time, was at an end. 

The French Revolution did not come in a 
moment. There was warning enough if men 
had stopped to think. When the storm burst 
the world stood in amazement at its fury, but 
the clouds had been gathering for many years. 
A great change had been coming over the dis- 
position of the people of France toward roy- 
alty; and when we say " people " we mean the 
masses of the population aside from the nobles 
and the high church officials. Perhaps no 
people in Europe had been for centuries more 
loyal to their rulers than were the French. 
Their loyalty was even of an unreasoning kind. 
They were ready to suffer any burdens if by 
doing so they coUld add to the glory of their 
[ 29 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

king. They paid heavy taxes. They impover- 
ished themselves. They gave their children to 
fight in war. They seemed to find compensa- 
tion enough for it all in seeing magnificent 
palaces arise on every side and in witnessing 
the pomp and glory of royal display. 

But a change had finally come. First, whis- 
pered criticism, then murmurs of complaint, 
then remonstrance and protest, and fijially 
open revolt and insurrection. Taxes grew 
heavier and heavier, and still there was not 
enough money in the royal treasury to meet the 
extravagant expenditures made in keeping up 
the royal show. And what seems strange to 
us in this enlightened day, the common people, 
the burghers in the small towns, the small 
traders, and the farmers paid all the taxes, 
while the nobles and the clergy, for whom the 
bulk of the taxes were levied, paid none. 
Knowing this fact alone, we are led to wonder 
that the ancient system lasted as long as it did. 

But there were other causes of discontent. 
For fifty years prior to the reign of Louis 
XVI. the French armies had been defeated on 
every side and had lost spirit. France had 
been forced to give Canada to England. The 
soldiers were now joining in the popular cry 
against the privileged classes. The common 
[30] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

soldier could never expect to be an officer, or if 
an officer, could never rise to a position higher 
than that of captain. The chief positions in 
the army were reserved for the nobles and were 
filled by the king's appointment, and generally 
went to his poverty-stricken favorites among 
the nobility. 

The church had become corr\ipt. The higher 
offices in the church were given to young 
nobles, many of whom were without pretense 
of piety, while the lower offices were held by 
priests and curates on poor pay who could 
never hope to rise above their station. There 
was, therefore, dissatisfaction and dissension in 
that one part of the nation in which we would 
last expect to see discontent. Religion itself 
had fallen into disrepute. With the quarrel- 
ings among the churchmen themselves and the 
errors that had crept into church doctrines and 
dogmas, men turned their backs upon religion 
and declared the whole thing to be a lie. 
France became frightfully infidel. Men 
openly blasphemed God and ridiculed His 
church. As a result the grossest immorality 
flourished. Men and women became vulgar. 
The literature of the day was corrupted. 

It came to be the style, too, for writers and 
speakers to talk prettily about liberty and 
131] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

equality — words that Frenchmen had never 
before thoroughly understood. The king and 
the nobles, who had the most to fear from these 
words, at first took them as a joke, listened and 
applauded, not thinking that the ideas behind 
these words were making their way into the 
hearts and minds of men; and not dreaming 
that soon these words would be sung in the 
blood-red streets of Paris to the stirring music 
of The Marseillaise. When they woke up to 
the truth and tried to mend matters it was too 
late. 

The French officers and private soldiers who 
had volunteered to cross the ocean to fight for 
American independence, such men as Lafay- 
ette and Rochambeau, returned to France as 
heroes. They had helped to set a people free 
from the rule of King George of England. 
Why could they not help to set another people 
free from the rule of King Louis of France? 
Wherever these soldiers went they became the 
centres of interest and influence. 

As a result of this discontent, this newborn 
spirit of debate and discovery, clubs began to 
form in eveiy part of France where the most 
violent revolutionary language was freely used. 
Paris itself took the lead in complaining of 
the unjust taxes imposed by the king and the 
[32] 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

burdens imposed by the privileged classes. The 
provinces were not slow in following it. For 
the first time in the history of France there 
was published a detailed account of the king's 
receipts and expenditures; and strange to say 
the publication was made with the king's con- 
sent. The people criticized the throne for its 
extravagance. They saw for the first time with 
their eyes wide open that the king and the 
nobles were well fed, well housed, well clothed, 
and lived in sumptuous ease, while they them- 
selves paid for it all by the sweat of their brows. 

Out of it all came the Revolution. France 
became as a mountain shaking under the vol- 
cano. All Europe looked on in dismay. 

But interesting, yes, thrilling as is the story 
of France from 1788 to 1795, we must pass 
it by with the single assertion that out of all 
its bloodshed and its devilish cruelty came the 
end of the monarchy and the birth of Republi- 
can France. Louis XVI. — a better king than 
many who had preceded him, a victim to the 
onward march of mind which he could neither 
understand nor keep pace with — laid his head 
upon the block, saying, " Frenchmen, I die 
innocent of the offences imputed to me. I 
pardon all my enemies, and I implore Heaven 
that my beloved France — " then the drums 
[33] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

beat, the guillotine descended, the priest ex- 
claimed, " Son of St. Louis! Ascend to 
Heaven," and the populace shouted, " Vive la 
Republique! " 



[34] 



CHAPTER III. 

NAPOLEON^S FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 

To return now to Napoleon. Into this 
seething caldron of blood and fury he came, 
a lieutenant in the king's army. It was eight 
years before King Louis' death. We have 
seen that as a Corsican boy he had hated the 
French. He could not forget the struggles 
by which Corsica, his native land, had sought 
to retain her independence; nor could he fail 
to remember that she had lost it to this very 
king in whose army he was now a paid officer. 
We might reasonably expect that in the midst 
of this struggle between king and people 
ISTapoleon would be found among those who 
sided with the people, and so it was. 

The first seven years after he entered the 
army Napoleon spent much of his time on fur- 
loughs at his home in Corsica, and one reading 
the account of these seven years cannot but feel 
that the young officer was half-hearted, to say 
[35] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

the least, in his service as a soldier in the royal 
army, and must conclude that his heart was set 
on some day becoming another Paoli and free- 
ing Corsica from French rule. 

With his regiment at Valence we find Napo- 
leon more sociable and more contented than 
when he was in school. He went more into 
society; indeed, we find him again falhng in 
love, and this time he proposed and was re- 
jected. But he still kept tip his reading and 
study. A rich bookseller in the city freely lent 
him books, and we find him reading such 
authors as Adam Smith, and Voltaire, and 
Rousseau, and Raynal — books that breathed 
the new philosophy of freedom and equality, 
and did much to fan the fires of the Revo- 
lution. In the pages of Raynal he must have 
read that author's prediction that if France did 
not mend her way a revolution was at hand. 

At this time the young lieutenant is de- 
scribed as being short, slim, active, and awk- 
ward, with boots so big for his legs that a young 
woman nicknamed him " Puss in Boots." His 
eyes were deep set and brilliant. He wore his 
hair in immense " dog ears," which was the 
fashion of the time, and this is said to have 
given his dark Italian face a sinister look, 
though in outline it was classic. He was 
[36] 



FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 

still inclined to be silent and moody, but he 
could be drawn out by congenial company, 
and when he tried to be pleasant he could be 
magnetic and fascinating. He was often criti- 
cized for not joining in the amusements of 
young people. On one occasion he replied, " It 
is not by playing and dancing that a man is to 
be formed." His landlady once complained to 
him of his silence and his unsocial ways. After- 
wards, when at the head of the army of Italy, 
he met this woman, and in the course of his 
conversation with her said, " Ah, my good 
woman, had I passed my time as you wished 
to have me, I should not now be in command 
of the army of Italy." He was not a brag- 
gart, but in a quiet way he was imperious and 
acted as if he felt himself better than his fel- 
lows and capable of any task, and to a great 
degree his estimate of himself was a true one. 
We must pass rapidly over these seven years 
that may be called the Corsican period of his 
life, although it is important. As we have 
said, during these years, from 1789 to 1796, he 
spent most of his time in taking long holidays 
at Ajaccio, his Corsican home, where still lived 
his mother, brothers, and sisters, his father 
having died the year the boy entered the army. 
Historians disagree as to just how Napoleon 
[37] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

was able to obtain these long furloughs. Some 
say that he was ill most of the time, but others 
more than hint that he was not so ill as he 
pretended to be, and that he told downright 
lies to get away from the army and be at home. 

One thing seems certain : he at this time dis- 
liked the routine of camp life. Loafing about 
the camp and doing its petty duties fretted 
him. He was ambitious to be doing something 
great. In the army of France, too, he could 
never expect, without more influence than he 
had, to rise above the position of captain, and 
this was not enough. He felt himself born to 
greatness, and this was no place for him. We 
are driven to the conclusion that he wanted to 
go to Corsica in these troublous times in order 
to take advantage of any opportunity that 
might come to him to spring forth as a leader 
of the Corsicans and strike for them a blow 
for independence. 

During these years he tried authorship, 
partly, perhaps, to make money out of it with 
which to support the family, for they were 
poor, his salary as a lieutenant being only $225 
a year, but mostly to give vent to his deep and 
serious thoughts and feelings which burned for 
utterance. His most ambitions work was a 
history of Corsica, in which he tried to tell 
[38] 



FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
the story of Corsica's wrongs and her struggles 
for independence. He wrote and rewrote this. 
Nothing discouraged him — not even the ad- 
verse opinions of his friends. It was never 
pubhshed, but manuscript pages of it are still 
in existence. It shows a heart burning with 
love of country. The whole purpose of it 
seems to have been to arouse the Corsicans to 
renewed effort to regain their freedom. He 
wrote a story entitled " Count of Essex," which 
breathed hatred of France. He competed for 
a prize offered by the Academy of Lyons for 
the best essay on " What truths are most im- 
portant to inculcate in men for their happi- 
ness? " All his writings of this period show a 
seriousness far beyond his years and a fierce 
impatience, as if he felt he had a great work 
to accomplish in the world and was not willing 
to wait for it. 

His furloughs in Corsica during these seven 
years were four in number, at least one of more 
than a year in length. In the case of two of 
these furloughs he overstayed his time. In 
one instance his excuse was a lie, and the other 
he was dismissed from the French army for 
disobedience to orders. 

We are told that when on these holidays in 
Ajaccio he spent much of his time in an attic 
[39] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

of his mother's home reading and writing, and 
that when he appeared on the streets he held 
himself aloof from his former companions. 
We can easily imagine how it was: Napoleon 
had been abroad, he had been to the great Paris. 
He had been graduated from a military school 
and wore the king's uniform, and was under 
pay from the king. The boys with whom he 
used to play, of course, easily misunderstood 
him and thought him stuck up; and yet there 
was something of the mischievous boy about 
him after all. He and his sister Pauline once 
were caught mimicking the tottering gait of 
their old grandmother. Pauline got a spank- 
ing for it. ISTapoleon, being dressed in his 
regimentals, escaped for the time being; but 
a few hours later his mother suggested that he 
had been invited to dinner by some important 
personage, and Xapoleon rushed off to his 
bedroom to change his clothes. This gave his 
mother the opportunity she was after, and as 
soon as his regimentals were off she spanked 
him soundly. 

T^apoleon frequently dined with the French 
officers at Ajaccio, and invariably he fell to 
talking of history and the science of govern- 
ment. They didn't like this, for they could 
see underneath it all that Napoleon was a very 
[40] 



FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 

poor Frenchman, and that he knew too much 
for them, so they called his talk " ridiculous 
stuff and pedantry." Sometimes he came so 
near being disloyal in his talk that the French- 
men left him or refused to invite him again to 
their tables. 

When the Revolution broke out Napoleon 
was with his regiment in France. Getting a 
leave of absence on the pretext of illness he 
hurried home to stir up the island, with a vague 
hope that out of it all would come independ- 
ence for Corsica. Paoli, of whom we read in 
our first chapter, since Corsica had fallen into 
the hands of France, had been staying in Eng- 
land. Now the Revolutionary Assembly of 
Paris called upon him to return, guaranteeing 
to Corsica considerable local freedom. So the 
old hero returned to his native land in May of 
1790, and on landing upon the shore dropped 
upon his knees and kissed the earth. Napoleon 
was one of those who welcomed the great leader 
to his native land. Together one day they rode 
over the old battlefield of Ponte Nuovo, where 
Corsica made her last stand for freedom. Paoli 
was struck with Napoleon's manner and talk, 
and said of him on this occasion, *' He is not 
modern, but reminds me of Plutarch's heroes." 
Napoleon, though an officer in the king's army, 
[41] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

at once set to work organizing volunteer regi- 
ments of the National Guard in behalf of the 
Revolutionary Assembly, and by the volun- 
teers he was elected to the position of lieu- 
tenant-colonel. 

In February, 1791, his leave of absence hav- 
ing expired, we find Napoleon at Auxonne 
with his old regiment, having taken with him 
his twelve-year-old brother Louis, in order to 
relieve his mother and educate the boy. He 
was now getting a salary of $260 a year, and 
it was only by the strictest economy that he and 
his little brother could live. He avoided so- 
ciety at this time. He ate, for the most part, 
only bread, and gave all his spare time to teach- 
ing his brother. Indeed, there is nothing in 
the life of Napoleon so captivating as his care 
of his own family. It is an admirable trait 
in a young man, and even the enemies of 
Napoleon must give him credit here. We can 
imagine that one great reason for his frequent 
absences from the army was that he might be 
with his mother and assist her in her poverty. 
Afterwards, on being raised to a position where 
he could command money and infltience, his 
first thought was to put them beyond want. 

While still In the army of the king, he was 
attending secret meetings. Indeed, he became 
[42] 



FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
a member of a political club, and filled all the 
offices in turn — librarian, secretary, and presi- 
dent. He afterwards said that if at this time 
he had been ordered to fire upon the people, 
habit, prejudice, education, and the king's 
name would not have induced him to obey. 

Finally, on the occasion of his last visit home 
he overstayed his time, and his name was 
stricken from the regular army Hst in conse- 
quence. At this time he was both a lieutenant 
in the army of the king and a lieutenant-colonel 
of the National Guard of Corsica. In the 
latter he probably received no pay, and in the 
former but a paltry $260, and now he had lost 
even this and was without any resources what- 
ever. He longed to go to Paris and throw 
himself into its exciting life, but he was so 
poor that he had to pawn his watch in order 
to buy bread and keep soul and body together. 
He wrote to his rich uncle in Ajaccio for a 
loan, saying that he must go to Paris. In his 
letter he says : " There one can push to the 
forefront. I feel assured of success. Will 
you bar my road for the lack of a hundred 
crowns?" 

In May, 1792, we find him in Paris without 
work and without an office, wandering about 
its streets looking with mingled feelings of 
[43] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

exultation and pity upon the horrible scenes 
passing before his eyes, and burning with a 
desire to do something great. He was in 
Paris on that memorable twentieth of June, 
1792, when the Paris mob, bearing the red cap 
of liberty, marched to the Tuileries to make 
demands on the king. He was there on the 
tenth of August of that same year and saw the 
royal Swiss guards that were protecting the 
king cut to pieces and five thousand persons 
massacred. He was there when the Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal was set up and the National 
Assembly exiled forty thousand persons. 

In September, 1792, the school at St. Cyr, 
which one of his sisters was attending, was 
abolished by the government, and he returned 
to Corsica as her escort. Here he found Paoli 
growing lukewarm toward the Revolution. 
England was trying to get hold of Corsica, and 
Paoli favored England over revolutionary 
France. Bonaparte was rabid either for in- 
dependence for the island or for revolutionary 
France in preference to England, so Paoli and 
Napoleon quarreled and the latter joined the 
former's enemies. Then Napoleon tried to get 
possession of the citadel of Ajaccio, and fail- 
ing in his attempt, the Corsican government, 
which, with Paoli, was favorable to England, 
[44] 



FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 

drove the whole Bonaparte family out of the 
island. Napoleon himself barely escaping with 
his life. 

The Revolutionary government of France, 
being sorely in need of all its skilled army offi- 
cers, now readily forgave Napoleon for his 
disobedience to orders and restored him to 
the army; he now became a red-hot Revolu- 
tionist. There were two great parties among 
the Revolutionists, namely, the Girondists, who 
were moderate in their views, and the Jacobins, 
who were radical, and believed in and preached 
absolute equality among men. They would have 
no king, no nobility. This was well enough, 
but they carried their views and their actions 
to extremes. They were brutal and cruel, and 
among them were the Terrorists, with such men 
as Maximilien Robespierre at their head. 
There can be no doubt that Napoleon made 
friends with the most bloodthirsty of the 
Jacobin party, though there is evidence that 
he did not approve of the most violent part of 
their program. He became personally ac- 
quainted with Augustin Robespierre, brother 
of the all-powerful leader, and allied himself, 
in a measure, with the extreme Republicans 
under whom Paris was flowing with blood. 

[45] 



CHAPTER IV. 

NAPOLEON^S FIRST GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS — 
HE MARRIES 

Now comes an event in the career of Na- 
poleon that puts him on the high road to pros- 
perity and favor, though he was yet to have 
some hard days. The French city of Toulon, 
on the Mediterranean coast, had fallen into 
the hands of the Royalists, or the party who 
favored a king for France. The English were 
on the side of the Royalists. At an opportune 
moment Toulon was surrendered to the Eng- 
lish by the Girondists and Royalists of the city. 
Toulon was one of the most important military 
and naval centres of France. Here were many 
French ships of the line and vast military 
stores. The importance of the surrender was 
at once recognized and an army was immedi- 
ately raised by the Revolutionists and sent to 
retake it. For months the Convention forces 
laid siege to the city, but without success. 
[46] 



HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 

There are several stories as to how Napoleon 
appeared on the scene, but it is enough for us 
to know that at an opportune moment he ap- 
pears and is found unfolding to the general in 
charge a plan by which the city might be taken. 
His suggestion, briefly, was that instead of as- 
saulting the defenses of the city, a hill over- 
looking the harbor should be fortified and that 
guns be planted to command the English gun- 
boats. The English had foreseen the impor- 
tance of this hilltop and had planted defenses 
there. The French, to carry out Napoleon's 
plan, assaulted and carried them. Napoleon 
was in the thick of the fight and received a 
bayonet thrust in his thigh. The wound was 
not so serious, however, but that he remained 
throughout the battle, present, as some one 
writes, everywhere at once, a very paragon of 
energy. Having captured the height, the 
French planted their guns upon it, and then 
opened fire upon the English vessels in the 
harbor. 

After several thousand shells had been fired 
the English departed, and the city was at the 
mercy of the Revolutionary forces. The hor- 
rors that followed are almost unspeakable. 
Thousands of the inhabitants fled to the water's 
edge, crying to the English to protect them. 
[47] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Fifteen thousand were carried away in boats 
by the English, and thousands of those who 
remained were shot down in the streets by the 
frenzied victors. There is every evidence that 
it was Napoleon's foresight and plan of action 
that won this notable victory for the Revolu- 
tion, and we might now expect him to be in 
high favor and that his career would be free 
from embarrassment, but it was not so. For 
a time, indeed, he seemed to prosper. He was 
made general of artillery, and inspector gen- 
eral in the army of Italy. He was sent to 
inspect the defenses of the Revolutionary 
forces on the Mediterranean, and in July, 
1794, was set to Genoa by Robespierre on a 
diplomatic mission in which he was successful. 

Then came misfortune. By one of those 
sudden turns of the wheel of fortune, then 
so frequent in Paris, Robespierre was be- 
headed, and the enemies of Robespierre, be- 
lieving Napoleon to be in conspiracy with 
him, threw him into prison, from which, how- 
ever, he was soon released on the ground that 
he could not be spared from the service. 

In March, 1795, the Paris Committee of 

Public Safety, now having its turn at the 

head of the government, ordered Napoleon to 

proceed to the army of the West to take com- 

[48] 



HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 

mand of the artillery there. Napoleon saw in 
this an attempt to crush him, for it took him 
away from the army of Italy, where he had 
made a reputation, and away from his friends 
and the ground with which he was familiar. 
By one subterfuge after another he succeeded 
in disobeying the order, and by a happy circum- 
stance obtained a position in the topographical 
section of the war office, where, with three 
others, it was his business to draw up plans and 
orders for all the Revolutionary armies. 

It was a strange fatality that kept the young 
officer in Paris at this time. Paris had been 
for years the scene of almost continued riot 
between contending factions. On the 4th of 
October, 1795, a section of Paris declared itself 
in insurrection against the Convention, which 
was at this time the governing body of the 
Revolution. The National Guard, forty thou- 
sand strong, were in sympathy with the insur- 
gents. The Convention had but eight thousand 
troops on which it could rely. The inslir- 
gents were about to attack the Tuileries, where 
the Convention sat. The Convention chose two 
commanders for its troops, but the first left 
the city without taking command, and the sec- 
ond was placed under arrest for his cowardice 
and inaction. Then the Convention chose 
[49] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Barras as head of the Paris forces, and Barras 
asked that Napoleon Bonaparte be put second 
in command, saying: "I have precisely the 
man we want. It is the little Corsican officer, 
who will not stand on ceremony." Napoleon, 
who was in the topographical office at the time, 
was sent for and sworn in. 

On that fated 5th of October, 1795, Napo- 
leon Bonaparte was the real leader of the Con- 
vention forces. About the Tuileries he built 
a fortress. Murat, with three hundred horse, 
was sent at a gallop to Sablons, five miles off, 
to bring fifty cannon that were there, and these 
Napoleon posted about the Tuileries command- 
ing all the avenues of approach. Napoleon's 
energy was magnificent. His orders were 
given with promptness and decision. He was 
everywhere at once. He neither ate nor slept. 
Those who saw him became enthusiastic. His 
preparations filled the Convention with confi- 
dence. Finally, at two o'clock in the after- 
noon, the insurgent forces arrived, marching 
solidly along the avenues leading to the Tuile- 
ries. The firing commenced at four o'clock, and 
by six the storm was over and Napoleon had 
won with his eight thousand troops a victory 
for the Government of the Revolution over an 
army five times as great. With the ending of 
[50] 



HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 

the fight the army went throughout the city 
disarming its terrified citizens. 

And now comes a pretty story, which we 
may or may not beheve, according as we be- 
heve the friends or the enemies of the Httle 
Corsican. Napoleon was now the hero of 
Paris. His star had surely risen, not to set 
until the night of Waterloo. A little boy of 
fourteen, by name Eugene de Beauharnais, 
called upon Napoleon and begged of him that 
his father's sword, which had been taken from 
his mother's home on the night before by the 
soldiers of the Convention in their work of 
disarming the citizens, be returned to him. 
That father had fallen a victim to the cruel 
Robespierre in the bloody days of the Terror- 
ists. Napoleon was so struck with the boy's 
manner and words that he returned to him the 
sword, and the boy took it in his eager hands 
and covered it with kisses. 

On the following day, it is related, the 
mother of this boy, Madame de Beauharnais, 
called in person to thank Napoleon for his 
kindness. Her manner was so gracious that it 
charmed the young soldier of twenty-six. 
Long years afterwards Napoleon said that he 
first met Josephine, the future empress, for 
it is she of whom we are speaking, at the 
[51] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

home of B arras, one of the greatest men of 
Paris at the time. It is possible he meant 
that he first met her there in a social way. At 
any rate, the story of the sword seems to be 
well authenticated, and at least is pretty 
enough to be believed. 

Josephine de Beauharnais was born on the 
Island of Martinique. She was the daughter 
of a planter, and married, while quite young, 
Vicomte de Beauharnais, who afterwards 
served as a general officer in the Republican 
armies. Josephine, herself, after the murder 
of her husband by Robespierre, had been im- 
prisoned for a short time, and during her 
imprisonment had formed a friendship with 
a lady who a short time afterwards married 
one of the leaders of the Revolution. By her 
Josephine was afterwards introduced into the 
leading society of Paris, and when General 
B arras became the First Director and held his 
court at the Luxembourg, Josephine was one 
of the beautiful women who ornamented its 
society. She had had by Vicomte de Beauhar- 
nais, a boy Eugene, whom Napoleon adopted 
afterward as his own, and a daughter Hortense, 
who married Louis of Holland. Shortly after 
meeting Josephine, Bonaparte offered her his 
hand and she accepted it. By this means the 
[52] 



HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 

young general gained an alliance with the 
society of the leading men of the Revolution, 
and particularly with B arras, who at that mo- 
ment was the most powerful man in France 
and at the head of the armed forces of Paris 
and the Army of the Interior. B arras had said 
to his associates, referring to Napoleon, " Pro- 
mote this young man or he will promote him- 
self." They took the hint, and when B arras 
resigned as commander of the Army of the 
Interior, Napoleon was made his successor. 

We find him noAV occupying a fine residence 
in Paris and surrounding himself with a splen- 
did staiF, fine horses and equipages, and min- 
gHng in the brilliant society of the capital. On 
the same day that he marries Josephine, March 
9, 1796, he is appointed to the command of the 
army of Italy, and the Corsican boy, who but 
a year before was pawning his watch to buy 
bread, now steps out upon the stage of Euro- 
pean affairs to dazzle the world with his genius 
and his success. 



[53] 



CHAPTER V. 

SARDINIA HUMBLED AND AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

Napoleon never wasted time. Three days 
after his marriage to Josephine he rushed with 
the speed of a courier to take command of that 
division of the French army known as the 
Army of Itaty, whose headquarters were at 
Nice. This army, though nominally composed 
of 50,000 men, could scarcely muster 25,000 
fit for the field. They were hrave fellows, but 
hungry, half -clothed, and discouraged. Their 
equipment was meagre; their cavalrymen 
were without horses, and their artillery con- 
sisted of but sixty pieces. Arrayed against 
them, and holding all the passes of the Alps, 
were three proud and splendid armies of Aus- 
tria and Sardinia, with 200 pieces of artillery. 

Napoleon was but twenty-six years old at 

this time. What could so young a man do with 

such an army to repel the advance into France 

of a powerful enemy generaled by Beaulieu, 

[54] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

a man seventy-two years of age, who had spent 
a lifetime learning the art of war? Napoleon's 
battalion commanders were men of splendid 
ability and courage, like Murat, Augereau, 
Massena, Serrurier, Joubert, and Lannes, but 
amid the poverty and general discontent their 
spirits were broken. What could these feeble 
battalions do to repel the well-clothed, well-fed 
forces of Austria and Sardinia? A heart less 
stout, a spirit less undaunted, would have peti- 
tioned for reinforcements — at least for 
enough to eat; but not so, Napoleon. In the 
years since he had left the military school he 
had known hardship, he had fought adversity 
in every form; true, he had won victories, but 
others had gained the credit. 

Now, for the first time in his life, he was 
his own master, and his heart burned within 
him to conquer adversity and to be master 
of fate. When some one suggested that he 
was too young for the command, he cried, 
" In a year I shall be either old or dead;" 
and as showing how desperate was his pur- 
pose to win, he said, " In three months I 
shall be either in Milan (the enemy's capital) 
or in Paris." There could be no half-way busi- 
ness with him. There could be no temporizing. 
It must be either glory or shame, and that, too, 
[55] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

right quickly. Hear his address to his troops: 
" Soldiers, you are hungry and naked; the 
Republic owes you much, but she has not the 
means to pay her debts. I am come to lead you 
into the most fertile plains that the sun be- 
holds; rich provinces, opulent towns, all shall 
be at your disposal. Soldiers of Italy! Will 
you be wanting in courage? " 

This was the first word of encouragement 
the army had heard for many a day, and an 
electric thrill went through every heart, and to 
a man the army turned its face resolutely 
toward the Alps, amid whose fastnesses were 
its enemies — those Alps of which it had been 
said, " Here let ambition be stayed." 

To await the coming of the enemy was not 
the way of Napoleon. Before him lay almost 
impassable barriers of rock. Hannibal had 
pierced their dangerous defiles. But a greater 
general than Hannibal was here. Leading his 
army over the lower ridges where the moun- 
tains come down to the sea and toward Genoa, 
he finds upon the very threshold of Northern 
Italy seventy-five thousand Austrians and Sar- 
dinians with two hundred pieces of artillery all 
under the command of Beaulieu. One Aus- 
trian army is posted at Voltri, another at 
Monte Notte, and the Sardinian army at Ceva. 
[56] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

After a march of incredible swiftness Napo- 
leon throws his forces about the Austrian posi- 
tion at Monte Notte, surrounding them in a 
night. In the fierce battle that ensues the Aus- 
trians are routed, and, fleeing, leave behind 
them their colors and their cannon, with 1,000 
killed and 2,000 prisoners, and this is all so 
speedily done that the commanders at Voltri 
and at Ceva know nothing of it till it is over. 
The two remaining armies then hasten to join, 
but they are not quick enough for Napoleon, 
who, attacking one army at Millesimo and the 
other at Dego, sends both of them flying to 
the mountains, leaving their cannon and their 
baggage, and the better part of their troops, 
in the hands of the youthful conqueror. The 
Sardinians flee toward Turin, the capital of 
their fair province of Piedmont, while the Aus- 
trians turn toward Milan, the capital of one 
of their Italian provinces. Napoleon himself 
joins in the pursuit of the Sardinians, and tak- 
ing possession of Cherasco, in the neighborhood 
of Turin, there receives the surrender of the 
forces of King Victor of Sardinia, and dic- 
tates a provisional treaty with that monarch 
by which the French Republic becomes pos- 
sessed of a great part of Piedmont, including 
Coni and Tortona, " The Keys of the Alps." 
[57] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Hardly an appearance of power is left to King 
Victor, who shortly after dies of a broken 
heart. 

Napoleon now stands upon the soil of North- 
ern Italy, with the Alps at his back, and his 
face toward the richest and fairest fields of all 
Europe. In his exultation he cries, " Hanni- 
bal forced the Alps. We have turned them." 
Thus, in less than a month, has this youthful 
genius won six battles, killed, wounded, and 
taken prisoners 25,000 of the best fighting 
men of Europe, and captured eighty guns and 
twenty-one standards. He has destroyed the 
Sardinian army, taken every place of impor- 
tance in Piedmont excepting Turin, and has 
drawn to himself the wondering gaze of all 
Europe. 

Listen to his exultant address to his troops: 
" Hitherto you have been fighting for bar- 
ren rocks, memorable for your career but 
useless to your country; now yoUr exploits 
equal those of the armies of Holland and the 
Rhine. You were utterly destitute and you 
have supplied all your wants. You have 
gained battles without cannon, passed rivers 
without bridges, performed forced marches 
without shoes, bivouacked without strong 
liquors, and often without bread. None bnt 
[58] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

Republican phalanxes, soldiers of liberty, could 
have endured such things. Thanks for your 
perseverance! But, soldiers, you have done 
nothing — for there remains much to do. 
Milan is not yet ours. The ashes of the con- 
querors of Tarquin are still trampled by the 
assassins of Basseville." ^ 

The fleeing Austrians, with Beaulieu at their 
head, took position beyond the river Po, think- 
ing that with this barrier they could prevent the 
victorious French from entering Lombardy. 
By a trick Napoleon deceived Beaulieu into 
thinking that he would attempt to cross the 
Po at Valenza, and then, by one of those swift 
marches for which he had already become fa- 
mous, he swept fifty miles farther to the east, 
and, before the Austrians were aware of it, 
crossed the Po at Piacenza and was marching 
into Lombardy. In the battle that followed 
the Austrians were again beaten, and fled, 
leaving cannon behind them, and never halting 
till they had crossed the river Adda, where they 

' Some of the rrench students in Eome had dared to wear the 
tri-color cockade of the Eepnblic. The Pope had not recognized 
at this time the Trench Republic. In the disorders consequent 
on the action of the students the Papal army had hot interfered 
to protect the students, and Basseville, the envoy of France resid- 
ing in Eome at the time, was mobbed and assassinated, and the 
perpetrators of the deed went unpunished. 

[59] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

again took up position, leaving Milan at the 
mercy of the French. 

But it was not Milan that Napoleon was 
after; it was Beaulieu. The Austrian general 
figured that the French would cross the Adda 
at Lodi, and for once he was right. When 
Napoleon appeared at Lodi he found the only 
bridge (a wooden one 500 feet long) swept 
by thirty cannon posted on the opposite banks. 
Here took place one of the most brilliant vic- 
tories of Napoleon's career. Having formed 
3,000 of his men into a solid column a few 
hundred yards away from the bridge, in a place 
sheltered from the storm of shot that was fall- 
ing, and having sent his cavalry to a distant 
point where they were enabled to ford the river 
and come up in the rear of the Austrians, he 
waited. 

Soon he saw signs of confusion and knew 
that his cavalry were charging the Austrian 
position. At the word of command the col- 
umn of 3,000 wheeled to the left and poured 
like an avalanche across the bridge amid a 
perfect tempest of shot and shell, protected 
only by a few cannon on the French side, two 
of which Napoleon had pointed with his own 
hand, thus earning for himself a name that 
followed him through life as " The Little 
[60] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

Corporal." So terribly destructive was the fire 
of the Austrian guns that the column wavered. 
Napoleon, Lannes, and other commanders hur- 
ried forward cheering on their men and shout- 
ing " Vive la Republique." Lannes reached 
the shore first, followed closely by Napoleon, 
while the soldiers of the Republic charged the 
gunners and routed them before they could be 
relieved or supported by the main army of the 
Austrians who had posted themselves too far 
back. Two hundred Frenchmen lay upon the 
bridge of Lodi when the battle was over. 

Four days after the battle of Lodi, Milan, 
the home of the Lombard kings, threw open 
its massive gates to the triumphant French, 
and Napoleon addressed his troops as follows : 
" Soldiers! You have precipitated yourselves 
like a torrent from the Apennines. You have 
overwhelmed or swept before you all that op- 
posed your march. Piedmont, delivered from 
Austrian oppression, has returned to her natu- 
ral sentiments of peace and friendship toward 
France. Milan is yours; and over all Lom- 
bardy floats the flag of the Republic. . . . The 
army, which proudly threatened you, finds no 
remaining barrier against your courage. The 
Po, the Ticino, the Adda, could not stop you 
a single day. Those boasted ramparts of Italy 
[61] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

proved insufficient. You traversed them as 
rapidly as you did the Apennines. Successes 
so numerous and briUiant have carried joy to 
the hearts of your countrymen. Your repre- 
sentatives have decreed a festival to be cele- 
brated in all the Communes of the Republic in 
honor of your victories. Then will your 
fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, all who hold 
you dear, rejoice over your triumphs, and boast 
that you belong to them. . . . The French 
people, free and respected by the whole world, 
shall give to Europe a glorious peace which 
shall indemnify it for all the sacrifices which it 
has borne the last six years. Then by your own 
firesides you shall repose and your fellow- 
citizens when they point dut any one of you 
shall say, ' He belonged to the Army of 
Italy.' " 

Beaulieu, with his Austrians, continued in 
their retreat till they had crossed the Mincio, 
with the French cavalry in hot pursuit. Napo- 
leon himself went to Milan, where he levied a 
tribute of four million dollars and required the 
proud capital to give up to France twenty of 
the finest pictures of the Ambrosian gallery. 
The wealthy princes of Parma and Modeiia 
now bought the favor of France with pictures 
and statues and immense sums of money. The 
[ 62 ] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

Duke of Modena gave up the famous St. Je- 
rome of Correggio, which he afterwards tried 
to redeem at four hundred thousand dollars, 
but in vain. These, and other works of art 
obtained in the rich cities of Italy, became 
the foundation of the rich treasures of the 
Louvre. 

While Milan was in possession of Napoleon, 
the citadel still held out. Leaving a detach- 
ment of troops to hold the city, Napoleon him- 
self hastened after Beaulieu, who had now 
established himself on the east bank of the 
Mincio, with one arm of the army at Peschiera 
and the other at Mantua, one of the strongest 
army positions in Europe. 

Now that Napoleon had humbled Sardinia 
and conquered the army of Austria, and a 
large portion of Northern Italy was in his 
hands, those who were in direction of affairs 
at Paris began themselves to be afraid of him. 
What may not this young man do? His popu- 
larity is already boundless among the people. 
His name is in every mouth. May he not re- 
turn at any moment and use this popularity for 
his own ends, and possibly assume the role of 
dictator and make himself master of France? 
An order, therefore, goes out from Paris that 
Napoleon is to share the command in Northern 
[63] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
Italy with Kellerman, a brave Frenchman, 
though one not capable of independent com- 
mand. Napoleon immediately resigns, saying, 
" You had better have one bad general than 
two good ones." The order is at once revoked, 
and Napoleon again assumes command. 

At this time popular uprisings took place 
throughout Lombardy and thirty thousand men 
were under arms. Napoleon fell upon the 
insurgents with merciless vigor and meted out 
a punishment too horrible to describe, leaving 
an indelible stain on his name. 

Beaulieu calculated that Napoleon would 
cross the Mincio at Peschiera, where he him- 
self had crossed it, but again he was deceived, 
for the French crossed at Borghetto, fell again 
upon the Austrians, and compelled them to re- 
treat to the river Adige. Just after this battle 
Napoleon had a narrow escape. He and his 
officers were sitting at dinner, thinking that the 
Austrian army had passed far beyond them 
and was fleeing to the east. A straggling por- 
tion of the Austrian army, hastening to the 
assistance of their friends and not knowing 
that they had been routed, came into Borghetto 
just at this time. Napoleon's attendants had 
barely time to shut the gates of the inn and 
alarm their chief. Bonaparte threw himself 
[64] 



AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 

upon a horse and, galloping out by a back pas- 
sage, escaped. It was this happening that in- 
duced Napoleon to institute a small corps of 
picked men called " guides " to watch continu- 
ally over his personal safety, and out of this 
came afterwards the famous Imperial Guard 
of Napoleon. 

Mantua and the citadel of Milan were now 
the last footholds of the Austrians in Italy. 
Mantua was on an island approached by five 
narrow causeways. The city was held by 
15,000 Atistrians. By a sudden attack the 
French obtained four of these causeways, and 
then sat down before the fifth, determined to 
starve out the Austrians or meet them in battle 
if they should attack. 

Napoleon now took possession of Verona and 
all the strong places of Venice. It is hard to 
excuse this proceeding, for Venice was a neu- 
tral power. She had harbored the eldest 
brother of Louis XVI., known as the " Pre- 
tender," and this was made the ostensible cause 
of what looks like an insult to a friendly power ; 
it was probably the work of the Directory at 
Paris and not of Napoleon. 

Leaving one of his generals to blockade 
Mantua, Napoleon turned his attention to 
Naples. The king immediately made a 
[65] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

friendly treaty and withdrew his forces from 
the Austrian army. 

Napoleon now had the Pope at his mercy, 
and immediately took possession of Bologna 
and Ferrara in the Church's dominions. This 
brought the Pope at once to terms, with an 
agreement to pay $5,000,000 and to turn over 
to France a hundred of the finest pictures and 
statues in the Papal gallery, and inmiense stip- 
pUes. 



[eei 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

But Austria was not yet conquered. Rais- 
ing 80,000 more men — the best troops in the 
world — she sent them with Field Marshal 
Wurmser, a hero of many wars, to humble the 
proud conqueror of Italy and his 30,000; but 
he made a blunder at the very start. Dividing 
his army into two divisions, he sent one, under 
Melas, down the Adige to drive the French 
from Verona, and the other, under Quasdan- 
owich, down the valley of the Chiese toward 
Brescia to cut off ISTapoleon's retreat to Milan. 

Napoleon's eagle eye saw his opportunity, 
and, burying his cannon in the trenches before 
Mantua, he rushed like the wind to meet Quas- 
danowich. Battles at Salo and Lonato sent the 
Austrians in full retreat. 

After the engagement at Lonato Napoleon 
again came near falling into the hands of the 
enemy. One division of the defeated Austrian 
[67] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

army, wandering about in anxiety to find some 
way of reaching the Mincio, came suddenly on 
Lonato, the scene of the late battle, at a mo- 
ment when Napoleon was there with only his 
staff and guards about him. But for his pres- 
ence of mind he must have been a prisoner. 
An Austrian officer was sent to demand the 
surrender of the town, and was brought, as 
was the custom, blindfolded, to Bonaparte. 
Causing his whole staff to draw up around him 
he ordered that the bandage be removed from 
the messenger's eyes, and thus saluted him: 
" What means this insolence? Do you beard 
the French general in the middle of his army? " 
The messenger retreated, stammering and 
blushing, and assured his commander that 
Lonato was occupied by the French in great 
numbers. Four thousand Austrians laid down 
their arms before the trick was discovered. 

Salo and Lonato having been won. Napoleon 
fell on Wurmser, but not before the latter had 
gained a few successes, and cutting his columns 
in two, sent them flying in confusion. Thus 
in one week the Austrians lost 40,000 men, 
against a total loss to the French of seven thou- 
sand. During these seven days Napoleon never 
took off his boots and slept by snatches — never 
more than an hour at a time. The spirit of 
[68] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

revolt which again had arisen was stilled by this 
victory. The Archbishop of Ferrara, when 
brought before Napoleon, tittered the one word 
" peccavi " (I have sinned), and Napoleon 
ordered him to fast and pray for seven days in 
a monastery. 

Again the trumpets sounded from the Tyrol 
and 50,000 fresh troops were hurrying to put 
themselves under the defeated but not discour- 
aged Wurmser. Once more that general made 
the fatal blunder and divided his army. With 
30,000 men Wurmser came down the defiles of 
the Brenta, leaving 20,000 under Davidowich 
at Roveredo. 

Napoleon waited till Wurmser had reached 
Bassano; then, with the sweep of an eagle, he 
pounced upon Davidowich, and in a desperate 
encounter in which Napoleon lost an intrepid 
officer, Dubois, he bayonetted his way to vic- 
tory up height after height of the enemy's 
defenses. The Austrians fled to Levisa, and 
there again misfortune overtook them. Then 
Napoleon, marching his army sixty miles in 
two days, fell on Wurmser, and 6,000 Aus- 
trians laid down their arms. The brave Wurm- 
ser fled with one division of his army and 
made his way into Mantua, and there alone 
was he for the time safe from " The Little 
[69] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Corporal " and his all-conquering army. Na- 
poleon at once appeared before Mantua, 
stormed and took the five approaches to the 
city, and shut up effectually within its gates 
26,000 men. 

While all this was going on Napoleon sent 
an expedition to Corsica and wrested it from 
the hands of the English. 

Austria, though sorely wounded in pride and 
sorely distressed by the loss of three great 
armies, was not ready to yield, and in a few 
days word reached Napoleon that a fourth 
army of 60,000 men under command of an- 
other distinguished marshal of the empire, 
Alvinzi, was on the way. Alvinzi himself, with 
one division, appeared at Friule, and Davido- 
wich with another near Trent. 

The French who were at Trent were under 
Vaubois. These were to look after Davido- 
wich, while Massena was sent to Bassano to 
check the approach of Alvinzi. Neither of 
these French generals could hold his position. 
Trent and Bassano were both abandoned, and 
even Napoleon retreated on Verona. Napo- 
leon was now in a tight place. His forces were 
divided, part of them watching the 26,000 Aus- 
trians shut up in Mantua, and another part 
in the field trying to check the advances of 
[70] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

the two Austrian divisions under Alvinzi and 
Davidowich, which were hastening to join 
Wurmser in Mantua. The defeats just suf- 
fered by the French and the news of calamities 
threatening them, discomfited the troops. Then 
on the plains of Rivoli Napoleon caused his 
battahons to be drawn up before him and thus 
addressed them : " You have displeased me. 
You have stiff ered yourselves to be driven from 
positions where a handful of determined men 
might have bid an army defiance. You are 
no longer French soldiers! You belong not 
to the Army of Italy." At these words of 
displeasure from their beloved commander, the 
soldiers sobbed like children. Rushing from 
the ranks, they surrounded him and pleaded 
for their arms and their colors. The sick and 
the wounded left the hospitals, many with their 
wounds still bleeding, crying, " Place us once 
more in the van and you will judge whether 
we do not belong to the Army of Italy." In 
the engagements that followed, !N"apoleon had 
no further reason to complain. 

Making believe that he was retreating 
toward Mantua, Xapoleon quickly wheeled his 
columns and threw himself into the country 
between the two di^asions of the Atistrian 
army. Three battles ensued, in which the 
[71] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
French were victorious, known as the Battles 
of Areola, among the most desperate of the 
war. 

One incident of this battle deserves to be 
mentioned. Napoleon ordered Augereau to 
carry the bridge of Areola. It seemed that 
no army could cross it without complete des- 
truction. The intrepid Augereau obeyed 
orders and marched his columns upon the 
bridge, but in the face of the deadly fire they 
wavered and turned to fly over the corpses of 
nearly half their comrades. Napoleon dashed 
to the head of the column, snatched a standard, 
and cried out to his grenadiers: " Soldiers! 
Are you no longer the brave warriors of Lodi? 
Follow me ! " And they did follow him ; but 
the arrival of a fresh column of Austrians 
caused the French to fall back, and Napoleon 
himself, seized by his grenadiers, was dragged 
along and hurled into a morass up to his waist. 
The Austrians were between him and his baf- 
fled column. The battle seemed to be decided. 
But Napoleon was not to be beaten. As the 
smoke rolled away the army saw their com- 
mander's danger. In an instant they formed, 
and with the cry, " Forward, soldiers, to save 
the general," they threw themselves upon the 
enemy, hurled them from the bridge, and won 
[72] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

the day. The news of this battle made France 
crazy with joy, and filled Europe with amaze- 
ment. It was in this battle that the brave 
Muiron, seeing a bomb about to explode, saved 
Napoleon's life at the cost of his own by throw- 
ing himself between it and his general. 

Alvinzi now retreated on Montebello, and 
for two months Napoleon was the undisputed 
master of Lombardy. In these two months 
he did not rest, but founded the Cispadane and 
Transpadane Republics from the newly ac- 
quired territories, and these immediately made 
levies of troops and sent them to join the army 
of France. 

But the Austrians were tenacio'us. Their 
Council at Vienna at once organized a new 
army of 60,000 men, the fifth that had been 
raised for the purpose of crushing Napoleon, 
and put Alvinzi at its head. At the same time 
the Pope had 40,000 men and Naples 30,000 
ready, in case disaster should come to the 
French arms, to rise and sweep them from 
Italy. The Tyrolese, whose loyalty to Austria 
was so great, hardy mountaineers as they were, 
and perhaps the best sharpshooters the world 
has ever seen, flocked to the standard of Aus- 
tria as they had done in the four previous cam- 
paigns. Napoleon proclaimed that every Ty- 
[73] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

rolese caught in arms should be shot as a brig- 
and. Alvinzi replied that for every murdered 
peasant he would hang a French prisoner of 
war. Napoleon rejoined that the first execu- 
tion of this threat would be followed by the 
gibbeting of Alvinzi's own nephew, who was 
in his hands. None of these threats were car- 
ried out. 

Alvinzi sent a spy to Mantua to tell Wurm- 
ser and his 26,000 Austrians that a new army 
was ready to attempt his relief, and to say that 
if things came to the worst he should fight his 
way out of Mantua, retire on Romagna, and 
put himself at the head of the Pope's forces. 
The spy was captured, and, being brought be- 
fore Napoleon, confessed that he had swal- 
lowed the ball of wax in which the despatch 
was wrapped. His stomach was compelled to 
surrender its contents, and Napoleon, learning 
the secret, prepared to meet the enemy. 

Alvinzi's army, repeating the blunder so 
often made by the Austrians, divided itself into 
two parts, one under the commander-in-chief 
coming down the Adige, the other under Pro- 
vera coming down the Brenta, and intending 
to strike across to the lower Adige and join 
Wurmser. Napoleon sent Joubert to Rivoli 
to dispute that position, and Augereau to 
[74] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

watch Provera. The first fighting took place 
at Rivoh. Napoleon hiirried there from Ve- 
rona in time to be present in a great battle in 
which he had three horses shot under him. The 
army of Alvinzi was routed. Napoleon then 
heard that Provera had forced his way to the 
Lago di Guarda, and by marching all day and 
all night toward Mantua the French reached 
that point just as Provera's troops came upon 
the scene. Night fell with the two armies in 
sight of each other. 

Napoleon passed the night walking about 
the outposts in great anxiety. At one of 
these he found a grenadier asleep by the 
root of a tree, and, taking his gun, with- 
out awakening him, performed a sentinel's 
duty in his place. The man, starting from his 
slumbers, and perceiving with terror the face 
of his general, fell on his knees before him. 
" My friend," said Napoleon, " here is your 
musket. You have fohght hard and marched 
long and your sleep is excusable; but a mo- 
ment's inattention might at present ruin the 
army. I happened to be awake and have held 
your post for you. You will be more careful 
another time." This story, and scores of others 
like it, flying from soldier to soldier, inspired 
the army with a zeal and a devotion to their 
[75] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

young leader the like of which the world has 
never seen. 

The next day came the battle of St. George, 
which ended with Provera in retreat. Then 
Wurmser attempted to bring his forces out 
of Mantua, but was forced to return. Provera 
found himself entirely cut off from Alvinzi 
and snrrounded by the French, so he and 5,000 
of his men laid down their arms. So great was 
the terror inspired by the name of Napoleon at 
this time that another body of 6,000 Austrians 
surrendered to but five hundred French. 

Then the brave Wurmser asked for terms, 
and Napoleon gave an example of a courtesy 
characteristic of his better moments. Not only 
did he make such favorable terms with his old 
enemy that the Directory at home were dis- 
pleased, but, when taken to task for it, he said : 
" I have granted the Austrians such terms as 
were in my judgment due to a brave and honor- 
able enemy and to the dignity of the French 
Republic." Wurmser and his garrison marched 
out of Mantua, but Napoleon refusing to be 
present and witness the humiliation of the dis- 
tinguished veteran, delegated to one of his 
generals the duty of receiving his sword. 

The loss of the Austrians at Mantua was 
26,000 men, all their military stores, 500 brass 
[76] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

cannon, and sixty stands of colors. Napoleon 
sent Augereau to Paris to present these colors 
to the Directory. At sight of them Paris was 
frantic with joy and a national festival was 
proclaimed. 

While all this was in progress Rome trem- 
bled. Nothing like the fear and dismay that 
filled its streets had been known since the days 
when the barbarian hordes had swept down 
upon them from the north. The Papal armies 
were defeated at Imola; Faenza was carried 
by the bayonet; Ancona was taken, and then 
Loreto, a place famous for its wealth and its 
treasures. The priests, particularly those who 
had fled from France at the breaking out of the 
Revolution, were filled with the deepest terror, 
till Napoleon issued a proclamation that none 
of this class should be molested. The Pope 
then sued for peace and the treaty of Tollentino 
followed, by which the Pope gave to the con- 
queror the territory of Avignon, Ferrara, 
Bologna, Romagna, and a part of Ancona, 
besides $2,000,000 and one hundred of the fin- 
est works of art in Rome. The Directory at 
home urged that the Pope be dethroned, but 
Napoleon thought and acted otherwise, leaving 
to him a part at least of his ancient patrimony. 

Napoleon was now master of all Northern 
[ 77 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Italy save the territory of Venice. Venice 
could raise 50,000 men. She professed to be 
neutral. Napoleon suspected her and sent 
word that any breach of neutrality would bring 
down upon her vengeance and the destruction 
of her ancient government. And the Aus- 
trians, too, were still unconqliered. A large 
Austrian army was bivouacked at Friule under 
the command of a new general, this time a 
young man, the Archduke Charles, who had 
made a splendid record with the army on the 
Rhine. One division of the Austrian army was 
stationed on the Tyrolese frontier, and another 
on the Friulese. Napoleon, who had received 
20,000 fresh troops, met the enemy on the Tag- 
liamento. Appearing before them he made a 
display of force, then feigned a retreat. In the 
moment's lull that followed he sprang forward, 
forded the river, and struck the Austrians a 
blow before they were prepared. 

Then began an Austrian retreat which 
lasted for twenty days, during which ten 
pitched battles were fought and Friule, 
Trieste, Styria, and every stronghold in 
Carinthia fell into Napoleon's hands. The 
archduke then rushed on to Vienna, the 
Austrian capital. In the meantime the 
Venetians in Napoleon's rear had thrown 
[78] 



CONQUEROR OF ITALY 

off their neutrality. The archduke expected 
and hoped that Napoleon would be lured on 
to Vienna, where far from his base of supplies 
and in the heart of the enemy's country, with 
hostile armies in his front and his rear, he 
would be destroyed. So great was the terror 
at this time in Vienna that the royal family 
fled terror-stricken into Hungary, carrying 
with them little Marie Louisa, afterwards the 
wife of Napoleon, then but six years old. 

But Napoleon was not to be thus trapped. 
The Venetians were massacring the wounded 
French in the hospitals of Verona and else- 
where. They were cutting ofl* Napoleon's sup- 
plies and were shutting up his troops in their 
garrisons. Napoleon first wrote the Archduke 
Charles as a brother soldier, begging of him to 
put an end to war with a fair treaty. The arch- 
duke refused, though later he was compelled 
to do so by his superiors. Then without wait- 
ing. Napoleon turned his column and swept 
back like an Alpine tempest upon Venice. 

When the news came to Venice of the retreat 
of the Archduke Charles, and that the all-con- 
quering Napoleon, with vengeance in his hand, 
was flying at the head of his army to punish, 
she trembled and supphcated. Napoleon was 
angry. " French blood," he said, " has been 
[79] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

treacherously shed. If you could offer me the 
treasures of Peru, if you could cover your 
whole dominion with gold, the atonement 
would be insufficient — ^the lion of St. Mark 
must lick the dust." 

Venice surrendered to him without a blow. 
The oligarchy ceased to rule, and a democratic 
government on the model of France was set 
up. Large territory was surrendered to the 
French, besides five ships, $600,000 in gold and 
the same amount in naval stores, twenty of the 
best pictures, and five hundred manuscripts. 
The Venetian Senate tried to bribe Napoleon 
with a purse of $1,400,000. He rejected it 
with scorn, as he did a bribe of $800,000 ten- 
dered by the Duke of Modena, and one far 
more princely offered by Austria. To Aus- 
tria he answered, " I thank thee, emperor, but 
if greatness is to be mine it shall come from 
France." 

Venice turned over to the conqueror also 
something of more importance even than 
money, and that was the person of Count 
D'Entraigues, a representative of the Royal- 
ists, and his papers. The papers were sent to 
Paris, and by them it was proved that Piche- 
gru, a great general of France, the conqueror 
of Holland, was a traitor. 
[80] 



CHAPTER VII. 

PEACE WITH AUSTRIA THE COURT OF 

MONTEBELLO 

Napoleon had set out at the head of a dis- 
heartened army, in the face of insurmountable 
difficulties, to do foUr things: To compel the 
King of Sardinia to abandon his alHance with 
Austria, to weaken the Austrians so as to draw 
the Itahans away from them, to compel the 
Pope, who more than secretly was opposing the 
Republic, to submit, and to make the Republic 
respected, independent, and powerful among 
the nations of the earth. In four weeks he had 
defeated the Sardinians, and in less than two 
years had destroyed six Austrian armies, had 
humbled the Pope, had transformed ISTorthern 
Italy into independent republics in alliance 
with France, had made the name of the Repub- 
lic feared and respected throughout the world, 
and won for himself a place higher than that 
of Alexander, or Ceesar, or Frederick II. He 
[81] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

had done all of these things by the aid of sol- 
diers, the bravest the world has ever seen, pas- 
sionately devoted to their young commander. 
He had done it by the exercise of an energy and 
intelligence on the field of battle never sur- 
passed nor equalled by a commander. 

Instead of adopting the old tactics of war, 
he invented new ones. Instead of waiting for 
supplies, he depended upon what the invading 
territory could furnish. He marched with a 
rapidity never before heard of. If speed was 
necessary to meet an emergency, baggage, can- 
non, clothing, everything was sacrificed to it. 
He could concentrate men more swiftly, could 
detect a weak spot in the enemy's line or plan 
easier, could take advantage more surely and 
more speedily of the enemy's weaknesses, than 
could any commander the world had ever 
known. He was always doing the unexpected. 
He never waited for the enemy. He counted 
nothing as impossible. He braved every- 
thing himself, and expected every soldier to 
do the same. He filled the hearts of his men, 
by his example and his precept, with veneration 
and affection, the extent of which can scarcely 
be understood. An old Hungarian officer 
questioned as to the state of the war, said : " He 
is a young man who knows absolutely nothing 
[ 82 ] 



PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 

of the rules of war. To-day he is in our rear, 
to-morrow on our flank, next day again in our 
front. Such violations of the principles of the 
art of war are intolerable." 

The " Little Corporal " was now virtually 
the master of all Italy; still there was much 
to be done. Nearly every state in Italy had 
been torn from its foundations. Boundary 
lines that had existed for centuries had been 
blotted out. The people were crying for a 
democratic government and for liberty. Bona- 
parte set to work at once to bring order out of 
chaos. He established his residence at Monte- 
bello, a beautiful palace near Milan, and sent 
for his wife Josephine, his mother, his brothers 
Joseph and Louis, and his beautiful sister 
Pauline, then sixteen years old, whom the poet 
Arnault declared to be the prettiest woman in 
the world. 

As Bonaparte was perhaps the most distin- 
guished man in Europe, so Josephine now be- 
comes the most distinguished woman. Monte- 
bello becomes the most brilliant court in Eu- 
rope. At one end of the palace receptions and 
balls followed one another on a scale of mag- 
nificence not equalled by that of any king in 
Europe, mth Josephine, gracious, witty, and 
beautiful, as the queen of all hearts. Of her 
[83] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Madame de Remusat said, " Love seems to 
come every day to place at her feet a new con- 
quest over a people entranced with its con- 
queror." At the other end of the palace was 
Napoleon in the bloom and splendor of his life, 
the centre of the world's gaze, holding in his 
hand the destiny of nearly every European 
state. 

Napoleon gave but one hour a day to society, 
while for the rest of the time, allowing himself 
scarcely time for sleep and food, he received 
couriers from kings and princes sohciting his 
influence or imploring his protection, and spent 
his time in formulating plans for the establish- 
ment of republics and the betterment of the 
condition of the people of Italy. He projected 
roads, canals, bridges, harbors, arsenals, and 
insitutions of learning, calhng about him 
scholars, and artists, and statesmen, and giving 
to the world an unparalleled exhibition of wis- 
dom and energy. In excising himself from 
joining in the great festivities of the court, he 
said, " I only subdue provinces ; Josephine 
conquers hearts." 

Soon a formal treaty was made with Austria, 

known as the Treaty of Campo Formio, from 

the little town in which the treaty was signed. 

The Austrian commissioners met Napoleon 

[84] 



PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 

there and demanded terms to which he would 
not accede, threatening that if he did not 
accept them Russia and Austria would to- 
gether compel him to adopt terms less 
favorable. 

When his proposition was made, Napoleon 
rose from the table at which they were sitting, 
took from the sideboard a porcelain vase that 
was said to have been given to one of the com- 
missioners by Catherine of Russia, and said, 
" Gentlemen, the truce is broken; war is de- 
clared; but, remember, in three months I will 
demolish your monarchy as I now shatter this 
porcelain." He then dashed the vase into 
fragments on the floor, and bowing, abruptly 
withdrew, entered his carriage, and urged his 
horses at full speed toward the headquarters 
of the army. The Austrians immediately 
agreed to Napoleon's terms, and the next day 
a treaty was signed which extended the boun- 
dary of France to the Rhine on the north, com- 
pelled Austria to recognize the republics of 
Northern Italy, and liberated Lafayette, who 
had for fotir years been lying in an Austrian 
dungeon. 

A congress of all the German States was 
now called at Restadt, and Napoleon was ap- 
pointed by France as her representative. He 
[85] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

at once set out to fulfil his commission, accom- 
panied by the love and acclamations of the 
army he was leaving forever, and hailed along 
the route through Switzerland by illuminations, 
processions, bonfires, the ringing of bells, and 
the huzzas of the people. Some one who saw 
him at that time said that he showed a calm, 
pensive, and thoughtful aspect, and that 
he was thin and pale, and bore an air of 
fatigue. 

While listening to those who conversed with 
him, he seemed to be thinking above and be- 
yond them. He was doubtless dreaming of the 
day when he should be a greater Napoleon, 
though all the world seemed then to be at his 
feet. It was at this time, it may be believed, 
that he formulated roughly in his mind that 
plan of universal conquest, in which, by hum- 
bling the kings of the earth, he should set 
France on the pinnacle, and perhaps a 
Bonaparte as a world ruler. England, that 
ancient and hereditary enemy of France, whose 
hand had been seen and felt in every move 
against republican France, must be humbled. 
It was not Napoleon who first conceived of 
striking England by putting in danger her 
provinces in the far East, but it was Napo- 
[86] 



PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 

leon who first saw and grasped at the oppor- 
tunity. 

Things were not going well in France. The 
Directory had become unpopular and its mem- 
bers were quarrehng among themselves; in- 
deed, B arras, the most powerful of them, had 
called on the army to protect him and his 
partisans from personal violence and keep the 
government secure. Napoleon sent Augereau, 
with a strong body of veteran soldiers, to 
Paris, and that rough warrior soon mended 
matters. 

Napoleon himself stayed but two days at 
Restadt. Then, rushing like a meteor through 
France, he arrived in Paris on the seventh of 
December, 1797, after an absence of eighteen 
months. Everybody in Paris wanted to see the 
youthful hero, but Napoleon was nowhere to 
be seen. What had become of him? He was 
there ; but dressed in the garb of a plain citizen, 
he kept himself unobserved from the multitude. 
He and Josephine took a small house and lived 
unostentatiously, cultivating the society of men 
of learning. 

The Directory, although jealous of Napo- 
leon and fearful that the people would turn 
them out of office and put Napoleon at the head 
of affairs, found it necessary to give to the 
[87] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

conqueror of Italy a reception worthy of his 
services. The reception took place on Decem- 
ber tenth, 1797. Perhaps no grander ovation 
was ever given a man than that given to the 
fragile figure with the pale, wasted cheeks, 
dressed in the plain clothes of a citizen, and 
accompanied by the distinguished Talleyrand 
and the officers of the armies of France, ar- 
rayed in their gorgeous liveries. Talleyrand 
introduced him, saying, " Every French- 
man must feel himself elevated by the hero of 
his country." 

In making reply, Napoleon handed to the 
Directory the Treaty of Campo Formio, and 
said: " Citizens: The French people, in 
order to be free, had kings to combat. To 
obtain a constitution founded on reason it had 
the prejudices of eighteen centuries to over-' 
come. Priestcraft, feudalism, despotism, have 
successively for two thousand years governed 
Europe. From the peace you have just con- 
cluded dates the era of representative govern- 
ments. You have succeeded in organizing the 
great nation whose vast territory is circum- 
scribed only because Nature herself has fixed 
its limits. You have done more. The two fin- 
est countries in Europe, formerly so renowned 
for the arts, the sciences, and the illustrious 
[88] 



PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 

men, whose cradle they were, see with the 
greatest hopes genius and freedom isstiing from 
the tombs of their ancestors. I have only to 
deliver the treaty signed at Campo Formio and 
ratified by the emperor. Peace secures the lib- 
erty, the prosperity, and the glory of the 
Republic. As soon as the happiness of France 
is secured by the best organic laws, the whole of 
Europe will be free." 

He ceased amid the shouts of " Live Napo- 
leon, the conqueror of Italy, the pacificator of 
Europe, the savior of France! " Barras made 
reply, saying, " Nature has exhausted her 
energies in the production of a Bonaparte." 
A new song called the " Hymn of Liberty " 
was then sung in full chorus, accompanied by 
a great orchestra, and the five Directors arose 
and encircled Napoleon in their arms. Thiers 
says, " All heads were overcome with intoxi- 
cation." 

Talleyrand also gave a great ball costing 
over twelve thousand francs. The French In- 
stitute elected Napoleon one of its members — 
a distinguished honor for one so young — and 
from that time on during his stay in Paris 
Napoleon, dressed in the garb of the Institute, 
associated with learned men, attended lectures, 
and studied problems of science and philoso- 
[89] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

phy. When he made reply to the offer of 
membership in the Institute, he said, " True 
conquests — the only ones which leave no re- 
gret behind them — are those which are made 
over ignorance." 



[90] 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN — BATTLE OF THE 
PYRAMIDS 

The Directory were now intent upon mak- 
ing war against England, who had all along 
continued to offer aid to the enemies of France. 
No peace in France could be secure with that 
powerful enemy riding mistress of the seas 
and plotting against her in every court of 
Europe. The plan of the Directory was to 
land an army in England and march to Lon- 
don. Bonaparte was called upon to head the 
enterprise, but after a week spent on the north- 
ern coast of France, during which he weighed 
all the chances, he set out for Paris, determined 
to oppose the attempt, but with a plan secretly 
formulated in his own mind of attacking Eng- 
land by way of Egypt, and cutting her off 
from intercourse with her territories in India. 

The Directory, always jealous of Napoleon 
and still compelled by his popularity among the 
[91] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

people and in the army to keep him at the 
front, Hstened eagerly to this plan, which would 
not only, if successful, strike a mortal blow at 
England but also remove from France Bona- 
parte himself, and gave to it their consent. 

With his usual energy, Bonaparte set to 
work to raise an army for the Egyptian cam- 
paign, allowing it to be understood that the 
real purpose of the preparations was an attack 
on England at home. He drew from the army 
of Italy a strong body of his old veterans, 
commanded by such men as Murat, who had 
done heroic service in the campaigns against 
Austria. He did what never before had been 
done — added to his staff a body of one hun- 
dred learned men known as " savants," mem- 
bers of the French Institute, who, carrying 
with them books and maps and scientific instru- 
ments, were to make conquests for science and 
art, as fast as the army made conquests of men 
and territory. 

The army assembled at Toulon, where a 
powerful fleet was being collected to transport 
it across the Mediterranean; but Nelson, the 
Xeptune of the seas, the greatest sea fighter 
England ever had, was also on the Mediter- 
ranean with a strong fleet watching the harbor 
of Toulon. But fate still favored the " Little 
[92] 



THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 

Corporal." A wild tempest coming down 
from the Alps drove the English ships far out 
into the Mediterranean, compelling them to 
put into Sardinia for repairs. By daybreak 
of the morning after the storm the whole 
French fleet put to sea — a sight magnificent 
and inspiring, for when the sun rose twenty 
miles of water were covered with sails, and 
thirteen battleships, fourteen frigates, and four 
hundred transports were rushing before a 
favoring wind, carrying forty thousand of the 
best soldiers of France and ten thousand sailors, 
the latter under the command of Admiral 
Brueys, a sea commander second only to Nel- 
son. 

On June tenth, 1798, the fleet appeared off* 
the island of Malta, where, behind an impreg- 
nable fortress, were the Knights of Malta, suc- 
cessors of the Christian warriors of time gone 
by, who had bound themselves by oath to rescue 
the tomb of Christ from the infidel. But the 
knights of Napoleon's day were not those who 
had once upheld the banner of the Cross. They 
were luxury-loving and indolent, and, we are 
led to suspect, easily tempted by bribes, for 
Malta was surrendered to Napoleon, with its 
1,200 cannon, its 10,000 pounds of powder, and 
its 40,000 muskets, without a blow. 
[93] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Leaving a garrison to defend Malta, the 
French fleet continued its way. Nelson was 
now in hot pursuit, and taking a more direct 
line than were the French, he reached Egypt 
first. Not finding the French there, he sailed 
off to the East in search of them. Then Napo- 
leon slipped by without being seen and entered 
the harbor of Alexandria at the mouth of the 
Nile. Immediately disembarking, he sent a 
portion of the army to attack Alexandria, the 
ancient home of the Ptolemies and of Cleo- 
patra. The suddenness of their coming had 
given little opportunity for defense, and with 
the loss of only three hundred men the French 
poured into the city. 

Egypt nominally belonged to Turkey, but 
her real rulers were the Mamelukes, an order of 
fierce warriors, who, dividing the country up 
into twenty-four districts, with a chief Mame- 
luke at the head of each, terrorized and kept 
the country in subjection. Bonaparte at once 
announced that he had come to free Egypt 
from the Mamelukes and professed his friend- 
ship for Turkey; but England saw to it that 
the Turkish government were not deceived, and 
that it would have none of his friendship. 
Bonaparte gave orders that the religion of the 
people should be respected, and he himself 
[94] 



THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 

went so far as to express a belief in the Koran 
and in Mahomet. 

On July seventh, Bonaparte led his army out 
of Alexandria toward Cairo with the purpose 
of meeting the Mamelukes in battle. The heat 
was terrific. The sands of the desert were 
heavy. There was little or no water. Soldiers 
died of fatigue and thirst, on the way. The 
Mameluke horsemen, appearing singly and in 
groups, harassed the line of march and bru- 
tally butchered every Frenchman who fell 
wearied by the wayside. The soldiers mur- 
mured and threatened open revolt. Even such 
men as Murat and Lannes threw their hats 
upon the sand and stamped upon their cockades 
in their anger. Bonaparte was the same im- 
perturbable, sphinx-like leader. He wore his 
uniform buttoned up to the throat and not 
a drop of perspiration showed upon his brow. 
He was the last to go to sleep at night and the 
first to awaken in the morning. 

After fourteen days of unparalleled suffer- 
ing the army reached the pyramids, and from a 
shght eminence near by saw encamped at their 
base the Mameluke army of 20,000 infantry 
and 10,000 cavalry, with forty cannon. Napo- 
leon went forward with a few of his staff, and 
by the aid of glasses saw that the enemy's guns 
[95] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

were without carriages and could not easily be 
moved. Taking advantage of this fact he drew 
his columns oiF out of range of the guns and 
there prepared for the attack. The Mameluke 
commander, Mourad Bey, at once threw the 
whole force of his cavalry upon the French 
line. In an instant Bonaparte formed his men 
into separate squares and thus awaited the at- 
tack. 

The Mameluke cavalry were the best cavalry 
in the world. The men had been trained to 
fight on horseback from childhood. Their 
horses were the noblest Arabians. Their pis- 
tols and carabines were of the finest English 
manufacture and their swords were of Damas- 
cus steel. They wore plumed turbans and gar- 
ments that shone in the sun, and each man car- 
ried with him his entire wealth. This intrepid 
body of 10,000 savage horsemen plunged in a 
solid mass, with gleaming weapons and terri- 
fying shrieks, lipon the solid lines of French 
infantry. Bonaparte shouted to his men: 
" Soldiers! From those summits (pointing to 
the pyramids) forty centuries look down upon 
your actions." The onsweep of the Mameluke 
horse raised a cloud of impenetrable dust, blind- 
ing the eye and choking the throat. The five 
French squares stood the impetuous onset like 
[96] 



THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 
solid rock. Not one was broken; not one wa- 
vered. The Mamelukes threw away their lives 
with the utmost recklessness. They even 
wheeled their horses round, and reined them 
back upon the enemy, that they might kick 
their way into these lines of living men. Un- 
able to break the ranks, they hurled their pis- 
tols and carabines at the heads of the French. 
They displayed superhuman bravery; and not 
until more than two thousand of their number 
lay upon the burning sand did they turn and 
flee. " Could I have united the Mameluke 
horse to the French infantry," said Bonaparte, 
" I should have reckoned myself master of the 
world." The infantry, too, fled in confusion 
to the banks of the Nile and plunged in, at- 
tempting to swim to the farther bank, and 
thousands thus lost their lives. 

Scarcely had victory been assured than the 
savants began the exploration of the pyramids. 
Bonaparte himself after the battle entered their 
mysterious portals and stood amid the mum- 
mies of the Pharaohs. At night, as the undis- 
puted conqueror of lower Egypt, he took up 
his abode in the country palace of Mourad Bey, 
where many hours were passed in exploring 
its oriental splendors. Many a French soldier 
was made rich after the battle of the pyramids 
[97] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

by the treasure that he was able to take from 
the body of a single Mameluke, the gold and 
trappings alone on any one Mameluke being 
worth from $1,200 to $2,000. 

This bloody battle cost the French scarcely 
one hundred men in killed and wounded, while 
more than 10,000 of the enemy perished. 
" But," as Sir Walter Scott says, *' it was not 
the will of Heaven that even the most fortunate 
of men should escape reverses, and a severe one 
awaited Bonaparte." 



[98] 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BATTLE OF THE NILE — THE SYRIAN 
CAMPAIGN 

On August first (1798), ten days after the 
battle of the Pyramids, Lord Nelson with his 
splendid fleet, having learned that the French 
had landed in Egypt, came upon thirteen 
French ships of the line and four frigates under 
Admiral Brueys in the Bay of Aboukir, and 
after a terrible battle, which raged from six 
o'clock that evening until noon of the next day, 
gained a complete victory. This is known in 
history as the Battle of the Nile. Four French 
ships alone escaped. Admiral Brueys and five 
thousand brave French sailors were killed, and 
Napoleon was practically made a prisoner in 
Egypt with his thirty thousand men. 

It was the great general's first reverse, and it 
was sudden and terrible. All Etirope outside 
of republican France rejoiced, and every mon- 
arch settled himself more firmly on his throne. 

... [99] 

L.of Q. 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Nelson was overwhelmed with titles and pres- 
ents. He was made Baron of the Nile and 
given a pension of ten thousand dollars a year. 
Every king and prince of Europe hastened to 
show him favor. Then followed new and more 
powerful combinations against France. With 
Bonaparte beyond seas and unable to return, 
now was the time to crush republicanism and 
seat the Bourbons on their hereditary throne. 

But what of Napoleon? Does he act the 
prisoner? Does he rail at fate? Not a word or 
gesture betraj^s fear or discouragement. He 
writes to one of his generals : " We must die 
in this country or get out of it greater than the 
ancients. This will oblige us to do greater 
things than we intended. We must hold otir- 
selves in readiness. We will at least bequeath 
to Egypt a heritage of greatness." Then this 
imperturbable, sphinx-like man takes his pen 
and writes to the widow of the brave Brueys: 
" I feel warmly for your grief. We feel, in 
such a situation, that there is nothing which 
yet binds us to life, that it were far better to 
die. But when, after such just and unavoid- 
able throes, we press our children to our hearts, 
tears and more tender sentiments arise, and 
life becomes bearable for their sakes. Yes, 
madame ! They will open the fountains of your 
[ 100 ] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 
heart. You will watch their childhood, educate 
their youth. You will speak to them of their 
father, of your present grief, and of the loss 
which they and the Republic have sustained in 
his death," etc. And yet there are those who 
say that Napoleon had no heart! 

Napoleon was still master of Egypt, and he 
was a master infinitely wiser and better than 
any she had ever known. He drove the Mame- 
lukes into the fastnesses of upper Egypt; he 
inspected routes for new canals and opened up 
old ones; he built fortifications and organized 
a government; he ransacked the monuments, 
and started Egypt on a career of progress, 
traces of which are even now felt in that ancient 
land. 

Now, England, Russia, Turkey, Austria, 
Sardinia, Naples crouched like panthers to 
spring at the signal upon unhappy France. A 
great fleet was to land an army of the allies on 
the coast of Egypt. Another overwhelming 
force was to go against Napoleon by the way 
of Syria and the desert. A vast army was to 
come from India by way of the Red Sea. At 
the same time all Europe was to pour its armies 
across the Alps and, retaking the territory Na- 
poleon had won, drive the French out of Italy. 
The Mamelukes, thus encouraged, sprang into 
[101] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

activity again. Every Frenchman in Egypt 
seemed doomed to die. 

Then the genius of Napoleon shone out. A 
revolt in Cairo was put down with a speed and 
a thoroughness that caused all Egypt to hold 
its breath in awe. In January (1799) , hearing 
that a Syrian army had invaded Egypt on the 
east and had captured El Arish, Napoleon, at 
the head of but ten thousand of his men, sud- 
denly appeared before this desert fortress at 
the midnight hour, after a jfive days' march 
of awful suffering in which men, crazed by 
heat and thirst, broke their muskets and prayed 
for death. The fight that followed was sharp 
and decisive; Napoleon was again victor with 
two thousand bloodthirstj'- Arabs as his pris- 
oners. To keep them was out of the question, 
so they were allowed to go on the promise that 
they would nevermore bear arms against him. 
But no sooner were they out of sight than they 
made straight for Jaffa, where they joined the 
forces of " Achmet, the butcher," and were 
afterwards found in the front rank of the infi- 
dels pouring hot shot into the French columns. 
Napoleon then pressed on to Gaza where he 
won another battle, then on to Jaffa, which he 
reached March third. 

The horizon was now black with tokens of 
[ 102] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 

disaster to the daring leader and his devoted 
band. The warships of England, Russia, and 
Turkey hovered along the coast, capturing or 
destroying suppHes and reinforcements sent to 
him from Egypt, and landing armies under 
skilled European leaders with artillery and all 
the munitions of war. 

With his usXial confidence Napoleon sum- 
moned Jaffa to surrender. The reply was the 
head of the messenger elevated on a pole set 
on the wall of the city. Maddened to frenzy, 
the French soldiers, having previously made a 
breach in the wall, poured through the opening 
like so many demons of the under world. Jaffa 
became a pandemonium of horror. Napoleon 
tried to stop it; his aides, coming upon the 
scene of butchery, ordered the carnage to cease, 
and with two thousand prisoners, many of 
whom were the Arabs whom he had liberated 
at El Arish, came before him. The army cried 
for the blood of the treacherous infidels. Napo- 
leon hesitated. His own troops were on short 
rations ; they refused to divide with such prison- 
ers. Napoleon still hesitated. To free these men 
again was to see them again arming themselves 
against his men, his " children," as he fondly 
called them. A council of generals was called 
one day to decide the question; it adjourned 
[ 103 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

to the next, then to the next, and then by unani- 
mous vote the prisoners were condemned to 
death; and so, on the sandhills near the coast, 
drawn Up in small squares, they received the 
awful reward of their treachery. Napoleon 
by this act brought upon himself the name of 
a bloodthirsty savage and was accounted by 
Englishmen as no better than the infidels who 
knew no mercy. Yet Sir Walter Scott says 
of this act, " We do not view it as the indul- 
gence of an innate love of cruelty." Argu- 
ments have been piled high by friends and foes 
of Napoleon, blaming and excusing. Space 
does not permit our entering into the contro- 
versy. We can only say war is war ; and to the 
man who is sent to conquer or to kill, the end 
ofttimes seems to justify the means. In his 
account of the event later. Napoleon says that 
under the same circumstances he would again 
do the same, " and so," says he " would Well- 
ington, or any general." 

" On to Acre " was now the word. This town 
was the most important military post in Syria 
and was defended by Achmet the butcher, sup- 
ported by Colonel Philippeaux, a French royal- 
ist engineer and a former schoolmate of Na- 
poleon, and, most important of all, by Sir 
Sidney Smith, an English admiral, who had 
[ 104] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 

just arrived with several English ships after 
capturing, a few days before, forty-four heavy 
siege guns that were being sent from Egypt 
to strengthen the French. 

Napoleon sent a messenger calling upon 
Achmet to make peace. The infidel killed the 
messenger, and then Napoleon issued an 
address to the people of Syria showing that he 
had been provoked to war, and calling upon 
them to remain quiet in their homes, prom- 
ising them his favor when peace should 
come. 

Plague now broke out in the French army. 
Before it the stern soldiers of France quailed 
as they had not before cannons' moUths. The 
sick were abandoned by their comrades and 
even by their physicians. Napoleon, fearless 
here as ever, walked amid them, pressed their 
sores, encouraged them, and inspired them 
with even greater love for him. 

The assault on Acre began. Win, and Na- 
poleon was master of Syria and with a word he 
could change the face of the world! 

An army of thirty thousand Turks, among 
them twelve thousand of the best horsemen in 
the world, was marching against him. With six 
thousand of his eight thousand available troops 
he went to meet them. At the foot of Mt. 
[ 105 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Tabor was then fought one of the most awful 
battles of history, and, astonishing to relate, 
Napoleon won it with six thousand men over 
an army of thirty thousand. Kleber, Murat 
(whom Napoleon said in battle was the bravest 
man in the world) , and Napoleon himself di- 
vide the credit for the generalship displayed, 
and every French soldier won the name of hero. 

Napoleon then returned to the siege of Acre. 
Sir Sidney Smith conducted the defense. Not 
counting on the extent of the French soldiers' 
loyalty to their leader, he caused circulars to 
be thrown over the walls, offering the free 
transportation to France of any French sol- 
dier deserting his commander. Not one ac- 
cepted the offer. Napoleon said of Sir Sidney, 
" He has gone mad." Sir Sidney replied by a 
challenge to a duel. Napoleon said if he would 
send Marlborough from his grave he would 
meet him, but that if Sir Sidney must fight 
he would send a French grenadier to meet 
him. 

For sixty days the siege had gone on. Three 
thousand Frenchmen had lost their lives and 
the hospitals were full. At this time thirty 
English and Turkish ships of the line arrived, 
the latter bringing twelve thousand fresh 
troops. Napoleon resolved to attack before 
[106] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 

thej^ could be landed, and under the cover of 
night began the assault. The conflict was ter- 
rific, and in the end, which soon came, Napoleon, 
at the age of twenty-nine, met the first real dis- 
appointment of his world-conquering ambition. 
Crushed and beaten, he withdrew his shattered 
columns and began the long, terrible march 
back across the desert to Egypt. In his address 
to his troops he recalls to their minds that they, 
a handful of men, had maintained a war for 
three months in the heart of Syria, had taken 
forty pieces of cannon, fifty stands of colors, 
six thousand prisoners, and captured or des- 
troyed Gaza, Jaffa and Acre. " Soldiers! We 
have yet a toilsome and a perilous task to per- 
form. After having, by this campaign, se- 
cured ourselves from attack from the east, it 
will perhaps be necessary to repel efforts which 
may be made from the west." 

In twenty-five days the French army, or 
rather its surviving remnant, reached Egypt 
and entered Cairo in great pomp. Much of 
the way Napoleon had proceeded on foot, that 
the sick and wounded, of whom there were 
twelve hundred, might have conveyance. One 
day he saw an officer in full health riding a 
horse and refusing to give it to a sick comrade. 
Napoleon was so aroused that he struck the f el- 
[107] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

low from his horse with the hilt of his sword. 
Even the artillery pieces were left in the sand 
that the horses might be used by the hospital 
corps. 

Napoleon found the army he had left in 
Egypt in great discontent. They had been 
absent from home a year, and for the six 
months last past not a ship had been able to 
reach them from France. Then, too, a great 
army of English, Turks, and Russians was 
preparing to invade Egypt by way of the 
sea. 

One day in July (1799) this fleet appeared 
in the Bay of Aboukir. It was said that eigh- 
teen thousand Turks had landed, and that the 
Mamelukes were gathering in upper Egypt. 
At four o'clock of the morning after receiving 
the news, the French army of only eight thou- 
sand men was in motion. By one of those 
incredible marches for which Napoleon was fa- 
mous, the main division of six thousand came 
within sight of the Turks in five days. Two 
thousand under Kleber had not yet arrived ; but 
Napoleon acted at once. It was six thousand 
travel-worn veterans against eighteen thousand 
well provisioned, well groomed Turks, led by 
English and French officers, entrenched and 
ready, and protected by the fleet in the harbor. 
[108] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 

" This battle," said Napoleon to Murat, " will 
decide the fate of the world." 

The battle began at daybreak. By four 
o'clock of the afternoon victory perched upon 
the banners of Napoleon, after a battle which 
history records as one of the fiercest ever 
fought. Only two thousand prisoners were 
taken; few escaped, so that nearly sixteen 
thousand of the enemy were killed. Sir Sidney 
Smith, who was present and had chosen the 
Turkish position and directed to a great ex- 
tent the movements of the allied forces, barely 
escaped alive to his ship. Thus the loss of 
Admiral Brueys and the French fleet of the 
year before in these same waters was merci- 
lessly avenged. 

After the battle Kleber came up with his two 
thousand men and, learning the glorious news 
of the day, threw his arms about Napoleon and 
cried, " Let me embrace you, general. Yoti 
are as great as the universe." 

Napoleon now returned to Cairo, but not 
before receiving a bundle of papers from the 
English ships, giving the first news he had re- 
ceived from France for nearly a year. He now 
learned that France was in confusion. Uni- 
versal war had been declared against her. 
Treaties had been broken. Austria had in- 
[109] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

vaded Italy and regained her territories there. 
On every side armies were massing to sweep 
upon France and, crushing republicanism, seat 
the Bourbons again on the throne. It was now 
France against Europe; republicanism against 
monarchy. 

In a moment the mind of this wonderful man 
was made up. He would return to France. 
She had more need of him now than ever. Per- 
haps he dreamed that it was greater to be 
master of France than to be master of Egypt 
— where, though a conqueror, he was, indeed, 
little more than a prisoner. 

So having given directions for the govern- 
ment of the country and having marked out 
lines of reform and progress for those who 
were to remain, but keeping his intended 
departure a secret from all, he took a 
small party and proceeded to Alexandria. 
From here, with eight companions who were 
still ignorant of his intentions, he made 
his way to the coast. When night fell they 
found themselves embarking in a fishing- 
boat and being rowed in the direction of two 
frigates and two smaller boats that rode at 
anchor a short distance out. Napoleon then 
told his companions they were bound for 
France and their joy was beyond measure. 
[110] 



BATTLE OF THE NILE 

After fifty days of anxiety, during which they 
several times barely escaped capture, the little 
fleet weighed anchor October ninth (1799) in 
the harbor of Frejus, and Napoleon was once 
more on the soil of France. 



[ 111 ] 



CHAPTER X. 

NAPOLEON IN PARIS — THE REVOLUTION OF 
1799 — THE CONSULATE 

In reality Napoleon was a general leaving 
his post without orders, and was subject to pun- 
ishment; in appearance he was a prince and a 
conqueror returning to spread his trophies be- 
fore the eyes of his subjects and to accept their 
homage. In five days he was in Paris, having 
been accompanied on his journey by the huz- 
zas of the people. The trembling Directory 
received him with a great show of joy. A 
public dinner and reception followed and after 
that Napoleon disappeared from public view, 
avoiding notice, and assuming the habits and 
garb of a retired gentleman and student; but 
not for long. France had again become a 
threatening volcano, and the presence of Napo- 
leon in Paris did not cause the earth to grow 
more solid. 

Events now follow one another with start- 
[112] 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
ling rapidity, for France is rushing on with 
the speed of a hurricane to another revolution. 
The principal actors in the turbulent days at 
hand are Sieyes at the head of the Moderates, 
B arras at the head of the Democrats, both 
members of the Directory, Lucien (Napoleon's 
brother), and Talleyrand. Both the Moder- 
ates and the Democrats sought the support of 
Napoleon. He chose the Moderates and se- 
lected as his chief confidants (we had almost 
said conspirators) Lucien, Talleyrand, and 
Sieyes. Lucien was president of the Council 
of Five Hundred (corresponding to our House 
of Representatives), and Sieyes and his party 
held a majority in the Council of Ancients 
(corresponding to our Senate) . 

Napoleon now beheved that if France was 
to be saved to a republican form of govern- 
ment and preserved from destruction at the 
hands of England and her allies, it must be 
through himself. Once convinced of this, 
his plan of action was like to his plan of 
battle — no hesitation, no delays, no count- 
ing the cost, no fear. With the friendship 
of Sieyes and his party and of his brother 
Lucien, he could count on powerful sup- 
port in both legislative branches. He knew 
how he stood with the army and the people. 
[113] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Three regiments of dragoons asked for the 
honor of being reviewed by him, and forty offi- 
cers of the National Guard asked leave to call 
upon and congratulate him, as did also the offi- 
cers of the garrison of Paris. Napoleon ap- 
pointed a day — the tenth of November 
(1799) and the time six in the morning. At 
the appointed hour the dragoons were drawn 
up at the Champs-Elysees and Napoleon's 
residence was filled with a great concourse of 
officers. The Council of Ancients met at seven 
o'clock the same morning in the Tuileries. Its 
president, who was in the secret, declared that 
the salvation of the State demanded urgent 
measures and proposed two decrees: That the 
meetings of the two legislative bodies be at once 
transferred from Paris to St. Cloud, some miles 
from Paris ; and that Napoleon should be put 
in command of the troops in and about Paris. 
The Council agreed, and a messenger sped 
away to announce the decrees to Napoleon in 
the midst of his martial company. 

Instantly mounting his horse, the general 
rode to the Tuileries and addressing the Coun- 
cil said: " You are the wisdom of the nation. 
I come, surrounded by the generals of the 
Republic, to promise you their support. Let 
us not lose time in looking for precedents. 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
!N'othing in history resembled the close of the 
eighteenth century — nothing in the eigh- 
teenth century resembled this moment. Your 
wisdom has devised the necessary measure ; our 
arms shall put it in execution." 

The soldiers received the news with joy; the 
three out of the five members of the Directory 
not in the secret were astounded, and Moulins 
proposed to send a part of the directorial guard 
to arrest Napoleon, but the guard laughed at 
him. Barras sent his secretary to protest, and 
Napoleon sent him back word: "What have 
you done for that fair France which I left 
you so prosperous? For peace, I find war; for 
the wealth of Italy, taxation and misery. 
Where are the 100,000 brave French whom I 
knew — where are the companions of my glory? 
They are dead." Then the Directors resigned 
their offices and the Directory was no more. 

The Council of Five Hundred, which met 
at ten o'clock of the same morning, were indig- 
nant over their place of meeting being moved 
to St. Cloud, but they were helpless and ad- 
journed with cries of " Vive la Republique." 

Calling to their aid the mob of Paris, they 

repaired to St. Cloud, whereupon Napoleon 

sent to watch and overawe them a strong body 

of soldiers under the command of Murat. At 

[115] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

two o'clock of the following day the two legis- 
lative bodies met in their new quarters watched 
by the mob of Paris, who in turn were under 
the eagle eye of Murat and his men. A tumul- 
tuous debate at once began in the Council of 
Ancients, when suddenly Napoleon appeared 
among them, supported by armed men who 
stood just without the doors. In a short impas- 
sioned address he called on them for support in 
the name of Liberty and Equality. Shouts 
arose on all sides, " Vive Bonaparte." He then 
rode to the Council of Five Hundred, where the 
opposition to him was overwhelming in num- 
bers. Shouts of " Down with the dictator " 
rang in his ears. He entered accompanied by 
four grenadiers, and alone strode to the center. 
A fierce outcry arose and many rushed toward 
him with murderous intent. The grenadiers 
sprang to the rescue and not without wounds 
bore him away. He then addressed the soldiers 
and was answered with " Vive Bonaparte." 
The Council was now in an uproar. Lucien 
Bonaparte, its president, indignantly left the 
chamber and mounting a horse, cried out in 
the presence of Napoleon and his officers: 
" General Bonaparte, and you soldiers of 
France, the president of the Council of Five 
Hundred announces to you that factious men 
[116] 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
with daggers interrupt the deliberations of the 
Senate. He authorizes you to employ force. 
The Assembly of Five Hundred is dissolved." 
" Forward, grenadiers," was the order, and 
with bayonets at charge the soldiers cleared the 
hall. Napoleon had become another Cromwell. 
The friendly members of the Five Hundred 
and of the Ancients now met in separate bodies 
and adjourned for three months, but not before 
placing the whole authority of the State in a 
provisional consulate — the consuls being Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Ducos. Thus 
was accomplished one of the greatest revolu- 
tions of history and without the shedding of 
blood. From that moment, scarcely a month 
after landing on the coast of France, Napo- 
leon Bonaparte was the ruler of France. To 
be sure, he was but one of three consuls in the 
supreme command, but of the three Napoleon 
at once showed himself to be the real master of 
France — and he not yet thirty years of age! 



[117] 



CHAPTER XI. 

NAPOLEON CHIEF CONSUL — THE CROSSING OF 
THE ALPS — MARENGO 

The legislative bodies having on November 
nineteenth adjourned until the following Feb- 
ruary, all power was now lodged in the three 
consuls and two small committees representing 
the Ancients and the Five Hundred. At the 
first meeting of the consuls Ducos and Sieyes 
proposed to Napoleon that he share with them 
in the division of $160,000 which they (Ducos 
and Sieyes) had taken from the treasury and 
hidden away for themselves in anticipation of 
another revolution, but Napoleon flatly refused 
to touch the plunder. Of the three men, who 
were now virtually presidents of France, Na- 
poleon was easily the master spirit, and it was 
well for his associates that they at once recog- 
nized it. 

It will be impossible in the space at command 
[118] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 

to do more than outline the events of the days, 
momentous for France, that followed. Napo- 
leon at once entered on the great task of restor- 
ing peace and prosperity throughout France. 
A regular system of taxation took the place 
of the income tax that had amounted to forced 
loans. The Bank of France was instituted. 
Tyrannical laws were repealed. Churches long 
closed were re-opened for Christian worship — 
this last against the protest of Napoleon's 
friends and advisers. 

Twenty thousand persons were released 
from imprisonment. Exiles to the number of 
140,000 were recalled and restored to the rights 
of citizenship, among them Lafayette and 
Carnot, the latter being at once placed at the 
head of the War department. Public improve- 
ments were inaugurated everywhere. 

Employment was given to men of all ranks. 
Rogues and speculators Napoleon despised, 
but practical men — men who could and 
would work, were sought for and given places 
of honor and emolument. Napoleon himself 
worked from twelve to eighteen hours a day. 
Of course the army was immediately strength- 
ened, provisioned, equipped, and paid. 

A new constitution was drawn up and 
submitted to the people, who ratified it by an 
[119] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

almost unanimous vote, providing for three as- 
semblies or legislative bodies and three execu- 
tives to be known as Chief Consul, Second Con- 
sul, and Third Consul, with Napoleon named 
as Chief Consul, Cambaceres as Second, and 
Lebrun as Third. By the provisions of this 
constitution, which we cannot en'umerate, the 
power of the state was practically lodged in 
Napoleon, the Chief Consul. In announcing 
the constitution to the people, the consuls de- 
clared that it was grounded on the principles of 
representative government, and the sacred 
rights of property, of equality, and of liberty. 
The French people saw the hand of Napoleon 
in it all, and recognizing that at last a great 
and strong man that could hold France to a 
settled course was at the helm, they rejoiced 
and looked to the future with unbounded hope. 
On February nineteenth, 1800, barely four 
months after his return from Egypt, Napoleon 
took up his residence in the Tuileries — the 
old home of the monarchs of France, threw 
open its splendid halls to pomp and ceremony, 
and himself adopted a dress of red silk. With 
consummate skill he grouped aboUt him the 
ablest men of France, giving to each the post 
that he was best fitted to fill. Mutually jealous 
and suspicious of one another, each sought the 
[120] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 

favor of Napoleon and each did his bidding 
with more or less fidelity. 

There was the distinguished, though im- 
moral, Talleyrand for foreign affairs ; Carnot 
for the War department; Fouche, a profli- 
gate, but with a perfect knowledge of every 
faction and intrigue in France, for head of 
the police. Napoleon met all criticism with 
the cry, " Forget the bad in the past and 
remember only the good. We are creating a 
new era." 

Caste was abolished. Equality of all 
Frenclmien before the law was established. 
Every man must bear his proportion of the 
taxes, and every man was given to under- 
stand that he could aspire to the position 
for which he was fitted. It was about this 
time (December fourteenth, 1799) that George 
Washington died. On hearing the news Napo- 
leon said, " The great light of the world has 
gone out," and at once ordered that crape be 
placed on the colors of France for ten days. 

Having thus laid the foundation for peace 
and prosperity at home, Napoleon sought to 
establish that peace with foreign powers which 
alone would give tranquillity to France; so 
on Christmas day, 1799, he wrote to King 
George III. of England, asking that the wars 
[121] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

that had ravaged Europe for the eight years 
past might be ended. England's king coUld 
not forgive France for her revolution, and the 
answer he made to Napoleon's proposals for 
peace was that he could see no favorable 
opportunity at hand for making peace and 
that he could see none in the future but 
through the restoration of the Bourbon kings 
to the French throne. 

The answer of the French people was their 
finger pointed at the demand of the heir of 
the House of Stuart that George III. restore 
to him the throne of England, inferring that if 
the principle of legitimacy was to be recog- 
nized in England the English throne belonged 
to the Stuarts. 

England's reply was virtually a declaration 
of war. On the very day of its receipt Napo- 
leon issued a trumpet call to the armies of 
France, calling all the veterans who had ever 
served to form an army of reserve and making 
a levy of 30,000 new men. Already France 
had four armies in the field, stationed on her 
northern and eastern boundaries to hold in 
check the advance of her allied enemies, of 
which England and Austria were chief. 

Napoleon himself could not legally com- 
mand the armies, being First Consul, but he 
[ 122 ] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 

could be present with them and, through his 
choice of leaders, could really be general-in- 
chief . As nominal general-in-chief he chose his 
friend Berthier. Massena, beloved by the vet- 
erans of many battles, had been sent to com- 
mand the Army of Italy, which was now barely 
holding the last post of defense against the 
Austrians on the Italian boundary. MoreaU, 
second in reputation only to Napoleon himself, 
was given command of the armies of the Dan- 
ube and Switzerland, henceforth to be known 
as the Army of the Khine, composed of 150,- 
000 men. The army of reserve, composed of the 
veterans, was to rendezvous at Dijon, osten- 
sibly to support Massena and Moreau. But a 
far deeper plan lay in the brain of the First 
Consul, as yet known only to himself. While 
the Austrians were laughing and jesting over 
the little force at Dijon, troops were marching 
in every part of France on the roads leading 
thereto. The Army of Italy was in dire straits. 
That portion under Massena was besieged in 
Genoa by the Austrian General Ott. Nice was 
in the hands of the Austrian General Melas, 
who, with 30,000 troops, was preparing to enter 
France, join the Royalists, and win an easy 
victory. 

As stated, Napoleon had a secret — a tre- 
[123] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

mendous, dazzling secret; none other than 
a purpose and plan to climb the seemingly im- 
passable Alpine barriers of snow and ice and, 
rushing down hke an avalanche into the plains 
and valleys of Italy, come upon the Austrians 
in the rear. The name of Napoleon, already 
world-renowned, was about to shine with an 
almost supernatural light. A Russian army 
a short time before had tried to scale the Alps 
and had failed after losing half its number. 
Napoleon was to creep with an army equipped 
with all the heavy munitions of war up and over 
giddy heights where only the most intrepid 
mountaineer dare make his way. He was to 
spring suddenly from these mountain fast- 
nesses and overwhelm an enemy proud, vic- 
torious, and outnumbering his own; this, too, 
with an army two-thirds of whose number had 
never seen a shot fired in earnest. 

On May seventh Napoleon appeared at 
Dijon, spent two hours in reviewing some 8,000 
half -clad troops, then hastened to Genoa, where 
he received a report from a trUsty officer who 
had explored the passes of the mountains. Na- 
poleon asked, "Is it possible to pass?" The 
reply was, " The thing might be done." " Very 
well — then it shall be," came the prompt and 
decisive rejoinder. 

[ 124] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
Assembling the Army of the Rhine and the 
reserves of Dijon, Napoleon divided his force 
into four divisions which were to cross by four 
different routes. He himself took command of 
the main division of 35,000 men who were to 
perform the herculean task of transporting 
themselves and the heavy artillery over the 
huge barriers of the great St. Bernard. The 
start was made May fifteenth, and in one week 
the prodigious task was accomplished. Can- 
non were grooved into the trunks of trees and 
hauled by the men — often a hundred to one 
cannon. Gun carriages, taken to pieces, were 
strung on poles and carried on men's shoulders, 
the wheels being bound to the backs of mules. 
Knee deep often in snow and ice, they pushed 
on and up through freezing cold and on the 
very brink of deadly precipices. 

Says one historian: "Extraordinary was 
their order, wonderful their gayety, astonishing 
their activities and energy. Laughter and song 
lightened their toils. Indeed, they seemed to 
be hastening to a festival." One little fort, at 
Bard, stuck up on the mountains, offered re- 
sistance, but a goat path was found leading up 
and around it over which the army passed with 
immense difficulty. 

After five days Napoleon halted on the 
[ 125 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

summit of the mighty St. Bernard at the 
convent of the Hospitallers. Here good 
monks, with their famous dogs, were devot- 
ing themselves to the work of saving the lives 
of travellers in the great mountains. Na- 
poleon, with his usual foresight and fatherly 
care of his soldiers, had provided these monks 
in advance with the means by which they could 
meet every soldier as he passed with bread and 
cheese and wine. Thus cheered, the soldiers of 
France, with shouts of joy, began the descent 
into the fair fields of northern Italy, and soon 
the four divisions of the army were pouring 
out of the mountains toward Milan. 

As stated, one division of the Army of Italy, 
under Massena, was shut up in Genoa, and an- 
other, under Suchet, was holding the very last 
line of defense on the old frontier of France. 
These were almost readj^ to give up. Indeed, 
the garrison in Genoa was in a state of starva- 
tion, the soldiers eating their shoes and their 
knapsacks. Had they known that Napoleon 
was coming they might have held out a little 
longer, but they did not, so on June fourth 
they surrendered to the Austrians on the condi- 
tion that they be allowed to march out with 
arms and baggage and join their comrades 
under Suchet. 

[126] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 

Napoleon did not learn of the surrender until 
some days later. On the first of June Napo- 
leon, with his whole army, crossed the Ticino, 
entered Milan, and reestablished the Cisalpine 
Republic. Quickly the French then took Tur- 
bigo and Pavia and threatened Turin. Melas, 
commander of the Austrians, learning of Na- 
poleon's arrival, assembled his armies at Ales- 
sandria to prepare for the battle that was to 
decide the fate of Italy. On June fifth, Napo- 
leon, not yet knowing that Genoa had surren- 
dered, sent Lannes with a division to attack Ott 
and relieve Genoa. At Montebello, Lannes 
came upon a strong force of Austrians and a 
bloody battle was fought resulting in victory 
for the French and the capture of 5,000 Aus- 
trians. This victory won for Lannes the title, 
afterwards conferred upon him, of Duke of 
Montebello. Then Napoleon, having heard of 
the fate of Genoa, sent word to Suchet to cross 
the mountains and march on the Scrivia, and he 
himself halted with his army at Stradella. Here 
for three days he awaited the enemy, but as it 
did not come he gave orders to advance and led 
the army down on to the plains of Marengo. 

On the evening of June thirteenth nothing 
separated the two great armies of France and 
Austria save the river Bormida. The morning 
[ 127 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

of the fourteenth saw the Austrians crossing 
the river and witnessed one of the greatest 
battles that was ever fought. The Austrians 
numbered 36,000 and the French 16,000. For 
hours the battle raged so close and so deadly 
that at times the muskets of the opposing forces 
nearly touched. Before the superior force of 
the Austrians the French at last gave way and 
started in mad retreat leaving all their artillery 
excepting twelve pieces with the enemy. 

But the star of Napoleon was still ascendant. 
The French general, Dessaix, who had been 
separated at the beginning of the battle by half 
a day's march from the main body, suddenly in 
the midst of the rout appeared on the scene with 
his reserves. Riding up to Napoleon he cried, 
" I think this is a battle lost." " I think it is a 
battle won," said Napoleon, and immediately 
he sent in the division of Dessaix, at the same 
time riding along the lines of the fleeing col- 
umns, whirling his sword, and crying, *' Sol- 
diers, we have retired far enough. Let us now 
advance. You know it is my custom to sleep 
on the field of battle." 

Dessaix's brave men rushed upon the proud 

and victorious enemy and at the first fire the 

heroic Dessaix fell dead. Napoleon, coming 

up at this moment, embraced his dead friend 

[128] 



THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 

and comrade of many battles and exclaimed, 
as his tears fell, " Alas, I must not weep now! " 
Then mounting his horse he pressed on with his 
now reinspirited soldiers and, aided by a sudden 
dash upon the enemy's flank by the splendid 
cavalry of Kellerman, won a hard-earned vic- 
tory. At ten at night, Melas, the aged com- 
mander of the A'ustrians, after once winning 
the battle but now suffering a disastrous defeat, 
assembled with difficulty beyond the river the 
remnant of his magnificent army, and the fol- 
lowing day gave up to ISTapoleon all of Italy 
that France had lost during the latter's absence 
in Egypt. Before the smoke of the battle had 
died away Napoleon dispatched a swift mes- 
senger to the Emperor of Austria pleading for 
a general peace. 

On the seventeenth of June the victorious 
Consul entered Milan and received a magnifi- 
cent reception at the hands of the people. Then 
leaving the command of the Army of Italy to 
Massena, he returned to Paris, reaching there 
July second, having been gone less than two 
months. Paris, and all France, unprepared 
for his victorious coming, for they had heard a 
report of his defeat, were beside themselves 
with joy. Bonfires blazed everjrwhere. Men 
and v/omen shouted and sang in the streets, and 
[129] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

in every corner of the Kepublic the name of 
Napoleon was repeated with extravagant notes 
of praise. Pitt, Prime Minister of England, on 
hearing the news of Marengo, said, " Fold up 
that map " (referring to the map of Europe) ; 
" it will not be wanted for these twenty years." 
On July fourteenth, now the great national 
fete day in France, the heroes of Marengo, 
dust-covered and bearing their bullet-torn ban- 
ners, entered Paris. As they marched on to 
the field of Mars the demonstrations of joy and 
affection that greeted them were overpowering. 
Napoleon declared that these were the happiest 
days of his life. 



[ 130 ] 



CHAPTER XII. 

PEACE — REFORMS — CONSUL FOR LIFE — WAR 
WITH ENGLAND — CONSPIRACIES 

The Bourbons now sought by bribes in the 
hands of priests and fair women to induce ISTa- 
poleon to restore the monarchy. Faihng in 
this, they determined to kill him, and in this 
they were aided by many an ardent republican 
who feared his ambitions; but plots were dis- 
covered, bombs burst at the wrong moment, 
and all came to naught. 

The Austrians, though beaten at Marengo 
and though invited by Napoleon to make peace, 
encouraged by millions of money sent them by 
England, determined to keep up the war. Na- 
poleon sent three armies against them which, 
winning victory after victory, marched nearly 
to the gates of Vienna. Only then did Austria 
break away from her alliance with England and 
sign a treaty of peace (February ninth, 1801) 
by which the Rhine was fixed as the boundary 
[ 131 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

of France and by which France gained Tus- 
cany, among other territory, and obtained Aus- 
tria's acknowledgment of the Bavarian Re- 
pubhc and the Cisalpine and Ligurian com- 
monwealths. 

Napoleon now at thirty-three, supreme in 
France and powerful throughout Europe, held 
the proudest position which any European 
monarch had ever enjoyed. England alone 
now standing out against him, he formed a 
coalition against her of France, Russia, Prus- 
sia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and 
Sweden. This was rendered comparatively 
easy, for England had provoked nearly every 
European country by claiming and exercising 
the right of search of neutral vessels on the 
high seas. But Lord Nelson, by his great naval 
victory off Copenhagen, sunk a Danish fleet, 
and Denmark suddenly lost her admiration for 
Napoleon. Then followed the murder of Na- 
poleon's friend Paul, the Czar of Russia, and 
the coming to the throne of his son Alexander, 
who was the friend of England. Thus the 
friendship of Russia was lost. Then, Kleber, 
whom Napoleon had left in command in 
Egypt, having been assassinated, the English 
and Turks, under General Abercrombie, recon- 
quered Egypt. 

[ 132] 



CONSUL FOR LIFE 

ISTapoleon perceived the hand of his arch- 
enemy — England — on every hand, puUing 
down as fast as he builded. On learning the 
news of the French defeat in Egypt, he ex- 
claimed, " Well, there remains only the descent 
on Britain." With him to think was to act; 
in the course of a few weeks he had assembled 
100,000 men on the northern coasts of France, 
while at anchor in the channel rode an immense 
fleet of flat-bottomed boats awaiting a favor- 
able opportunity to transport the French army 
to the shores of England. 

The English sprang like one man to the 
defense of their country. The old war dog, 
Nelson, rode the seas watching, with practiced 
eye, every manoeuvre. Then followed negotia- 
tions for peace and the Treaty of Amiens 
(March, 1802), by which each nation made 
concessions, and universal peace, for the 
first time in ten years, reigned. Englishmen 
now flocked to Paris to see the workings of 
a European republic. Napoleon was the centre 
of interest. The palace of the Tuileries, under 
the hand of Josephine, seemed only another 
Court of Loliis XVI. Napoleon's labors at 
this time were prodigious. He was more than 
a peerless soldier ; he was a peerless statesman, 
a peerless worker, and a peerless administrator 
[133] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

of public aifairs. He wore out one secretary 
after another and himself hardly took time for 
sleep. 

Among the many great projects planned 
and executed was the establishment of a 
a national system of education, which began 
with the primary school and ended with the 
polytechnic — a system which has remained to 
this day and has done so much for France and 
for the world. The codifying of a uniform 
system of laws, a gigantic undertaking result- 
ing in what is universally known as the Code 
Napoleon, was accomplished. This system was 
based upon the theory that all citizens were 
equal before the law, and it remains to-day the 
best fruit of the French Revolution and the 
basis of the law of the State of Louisiana. Thus 
did Napoleon become a second Justinian. He 
planned innumerable public works — canals, 
roads, bridges, aqueducts, museums. He fixed 
a loftier moral standard for France. He doub- 
led the products of the farm, cleaned and beau- 
tified the market places, championed the cause 
of liberty on the seas, encouraged manufac- 
tures, and by direct subsidies to home industry 
cut off foreign competition. No drone could 
live in this hive. Government securities rose 
to unheard of values, and when threatened with 
[ 134 ] 



CONSUL FOR LIFE 

a decline in price he went into the market and 
fought the bears himself. He originated the 
Legion of Honor, meeting the criticism of 
those who declared that ribbons and crosses 
were mere child's rattles by saying, " Child's 
rattles — be it so; it is with such rattles that 
men are led." By this means Napoleon sought 
to distinguish the man, be he soldier or citizen, 
private or officer, who was an honor to his 
country and contributed to her prosperity and 
glory. So strongly did the Legion of Honor 
appeal to the people that even after the restora- 
tion of the monarchy it remained. 

Napoleon now made what he afterwards de- 
clared with truth was a colossal mistake, and 
that was the signing of the Concordat, by which 
church and state were reunited as before the 
Revolution. By it the Pope was given the 
right to appoint to church positions, and France 
required to pay from her treasury church sala- 
ries to the amount of $10,000,000 a year. No 
excuse can be found for this in the light of his- 
tory save one: Napoleon would become a king, 
an emperor, and this ambition led him to use 
this means of winning the favor of the Pope 
and of Catholic Europe; instead, he gained 
little more than the suspicions of his friends 
and the universal hatred of his enemies. There 
[135] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

was nothing to gain, there was everything to 
lose. He was already the idol of the people — a 
people ready and delighted to do his bidding; 
and by this one act he incurred hatreds and 
suspicions that were a mighty factor in his final 
undoing. 

On January second, 1802, Napoleon re- 
ceived the honor of election to the presidency 
of the Cisalpine Republic. The French Senate 
then, as a mark of national gratitude, offered 
to extend his term as First Consul, which had 
only fairly begun, to another ten years. Napo- 
leon refused to accept it unless by the vote 
of the people. At once the Senate proposed 
that his term be extended for life, and this be- 
ing put to vote throughout the nation received 
an almost unanimous verdict of approval. On 
May fifteenth, 1802, he was proclaimed First 
Consul for life, and not three months later the 
Senate by edict empowered him to appoint by 
will his own successor. By these steps Napo- 
leon was rapidly becoming absolute sovereign. 

Then came further mistakes. He interfered 
between contending factions of the Swiss Re- 
public and virtually made himself the ruler of 
that liberty-loving people. During the Revo- 
lution the black inhabitants of San Domingo, 
a French possession, had thrown off the French 
[136] 



CONSUL FOR LIFE 

rule, and under the heroic Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture had formed a Republic on the model of 
France. Napoleon, urged on by the white 
inhabitants of San Domingo, sent an army to 
recover it, and with partial success, the brave 
black leader dying in a French dungeon. Thus 
was the champion of liberty himself becoming 
the tyrant. 

Much that Napoleon was doing in the 
name of freedom was indeed contrary to the 
Treaty of Amiens. Under that same treaty 
England had agreed to give up the Island of 
Malta to the Knights of St. John, but she had 
failed to do so. Each nation, therefore, ac- 
cused the other of not having kept the treaty, 
and each with some just ground for its com- 
plaint. Finally the English, urged on by an 
abusive English press and misled by an exag- 
gerated report made by her representative in 
Paris, and stirred up by a French report 
printed in a Paris newspaper and said to have 
been authorized by Napoleon, that six thousand 
French troops might reconquer Egypt, and by 
the publication of a book presented publicly to 
George III. representing Napoleon as the 
murderer of prisoners at Jaffa and poisoner of 
his own sick, declared war upon France, May 
eighteenth, 1803, and before the news reached 
[ 137 ] . 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

France — indeed before May eighteenth — two 
hundred French vessels and $15,000,000 of 
French property were seized by England. At 
once Napoleon retaliated by arresting all Eng- 
lishmen then in France, numbering more than 
10,000 persons. 

The act of England was inexcusable; that 
of Napoleon, in the eyes of monarchical Eu- 
rope, and especially of England, was intoler- 
able. England then seized San Domingo and 
other French possessions. Napoleon saved 
Louisiana from the clutch of England only by 
selling her to the young republic beyond the 
seas — the United States. England then made 
war on Spain because she refused to join with 
her against Napoleon, but this drove Spain into 
the arms of France and put at the disposal of 
Napoleon the Spanish fleet and a million dol- 
lars a month in money. Napoleon then marched 
into Holland to threaten the English shores, 
and, pouring his army into the south of Italy, 
occupied Naples. 

Again preparations were made in France to 
invade England. Fleets were made ready and 
160,000 men gathered on the northern coast. 
Across the channel beacons blazed on every hill- 
top, the English springing to the defense of 
their country with over half a million men 
[138] 



CONSUL FOR LIFE 

under arms and five hundred ships of war 
cleared for action. Fifty men-of-war were 
being fitted out by Napoleon in various Euro- 
pean ports which were to concentrate at a con- 
venient point and sweep the channel, but the 
watchfulness of Nelson prevented the carrying 
out of the design and scarcely a ship was able 
to leave port. 

Suddenly Paris was surprised with the news 
that a powerful conspiracy against the life of 
the Chief Consul had been discovered, with 
headquarters in London, in which one Georges 
Cadoudal was the leading spirit, supported by 
Moreau, the French commander of the Army 
of the Rhine, and Pichegru and other royalists, 
all aided and abetted by the foreign enemies 
of Napoleon. 

This news was speedily followed by the 
announcement of the arrest of the chief con- 
spirators, and by the startling intelligence still 
later that a Bourbon prince, in many ways 
a good fellow, but guilty of treason and in the 
pay of the enimies of France, the Due d'En- 
ghien by name, had been arrested near the 
borders of France, hurried to Paris, tried in a 
night and shot dead by the orders of Napoleon. 
The blood of the victim was royal blood, and a 
great horror spread throughout Europe. From 
[ 139 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

this act Napoleon's name received a stain that 
was never washed away, and gave some excuse 
to posterity for caUing him tyrant. 

On his death-bed at St. Helena Napoleon 
declared that he did the deed because it was 
necessary for the safety, the honor, and the 
interest of the French people, at the time 
when the Due d'Enghien and his co-conspira- 
tors, by the admission of their chief, the Count 
d'Artois, had sixty paid assassins in Paris. 
A few days after the death of d'Enghien 
Pichegru was found dead in prison, and 
a little later Captain Wright, an English- 
man, also lay lifeless in a French dungeon 
— mysteries that have never been cleared 
up, though the circumstances pointed to sui- 
cide. Moreau was brought to trial and ban- 
ished for two years. Cadoudal, wearing about 
his neck a miniature of Louis XVI., and eigh- 
teen others were brought into court and were 
quickly adjudged guilty. All excepting seven 
who were of gentle blood were executed, the 
seven being banished. Th'us did the " man of 
destiny " seek to confirm to himself the su- 
preme power of France and to crush the hopes 
of the Bourbons and of monarchical Europe. 

Every important prince of Europe was now 
his enemy at heart, if not openly, but France 
[140] 



CONSUL FOR LIFE 

was at his feet humble and submissive. He 
was now Consul for life, President of the 
Italian Republic, and virtually the ruler of 
Switzerland and Holland. But who, asked the 
people, shall rule when Napoleon is gone? 
What endless confusion must follow his death! 



[141] 



CHAPTER XIII. 

NAPOLEON EMPEROR DEATH OF NELSON — 

AUSTERLITZ JENA — EYLAU TREATY 

or TILSIT 

The favorable opportunity had come, and 
on the thirtieth of April, 1804, the Senate 
adopted, with scarcely a dissenting voice, a 
measure aftewards ratified by the people by 
a vote of over 4,000,000 to 3,000 by which 
Napoleon assumed the title of Emperor of the 
French. On December second, 1804, by one 
of the most imposing ceremonials ever enacted, 
Napoleon was crowned in Notre Dame Cathe- 
dral by Pope Pius VII., who had come all the 
way from Rome to lend dignity and solemnity 
to the event. On the following May twenty- 
sixth, by the unanimous call of the Italian 
Republic, he was crowned as their king at 
Milan. At the coronation ceremonies Napo- 
leon took the crown from the hands of the Pope 
[142] 




NAPOLEON, EMPEROR 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

and placed it on his own head and then he 
crowned the kneeUng Josephine, as if recog- 
nizing no one, not even a Pope — the vice- 
gerent of God on earth — as fitted to do him 
honor. Likewise at Milan he placed the old 
iron crown of Charlemagne on his own head, 
repeating the words used by the Lombard kings 
of times past — " God hath given it me ; be- 
ware, who touches it." 

We now hear only of empire, of emperor 
and empress, of princes and princesses, of 
high constables, grand admirals, grand mar- 
shals, grand huntsmen, and masters of the 
horse. The empire was to descend in the 
male line of Napoleon's descendants, and 
in case of his having no son he might adopt 
a son or a grandson of his brother's. The 
members of his family were declared princes 
of the blood of France. The army received the 
change with applause. Flattery and devotion 
met the emperor on every hand. Every 
crowned head in Europe, excepting those of 
Russia, Sweden, and England, congratulated 
him, and many princes came in person to pay 
their respects. 

Scarcely had Napoleon returned from his 
coronation in Italy before he learned that a 
new coalition had been formed against him by 
[ 143 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE -^ 

England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, with 
a half -million men ready to take the field. The 
Czar Alexander of Russia was even then on his 
way to Berlin in person to win Prussia over to 
the alliance. Napoleon wished for peace, so on 
January 27, 1805, he wrote to George III. of 
England, who replied to the effect that it was 
impossible for him to negotiate without the con- 
sent of Russia. 

Let us not make the mistake of thinking that 
Napoleon's wars up to this time had been of his 
own seeking. The honest reader of history 
must see at the heart of all these struggles the 
determination of England and the continent 
outside of France to put down republicanism 
and reestablish the Bourbons on the throne. 
The kings of Etirope could never rest so long 
as a plebeian without ancestry sat in one of 
the high places reserved for the aristocracy. 

What might have been the history of France 
had Napoleon been left to carry out his gigantic 
purposes and plans with reference to her in- 
ternal prosperity, we can only dimly imagine. 
Napoleon wanted peace that he might devote 
his time and energy to building up France at 
home, and his most bitter enemies tell us that 
even when in the saddle during the most ardu- 
ous campaigns he was planning and putting 
[ 144 ] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

into execution great projects for the improve- 
ment of the condition of his people. 

In the war about to desolate Europe anew, 
Napoleon's old antagonist, Austria, was to take 
the lead. At once she marched her armies into 
Bavaria, and though that comparatively feeble 
country wanted to remain neutral, she was 
treated by Austria like an enemy. The armies 
of France were, as we have seen, scattered 
along her northern coast. With incredible 
celerity Napoleon marshaled them into six 
great divisions and almost before his enemies 
realized that he was on the move he had pushed 
across the Rhine. Within two weeks twenty 
thousand prisoners had fallen into his hands, 
and within twenty days the Austrian army of 
80,000 men was utterly destroyed. The ap- 
proach of the invincible Napoleon at the head 
of 186,000 men burning with enthusiasm was 
too much for the Austrian General Mack, shut 
up in Ulm, and, incredible as it may appear, 
without waiting for reinforcements and with- 
out striking a blow he surrendered the fortress 
with 36,000 men. Napoleon, with his staiF, 
stood for five hours and watched this great 
army march out from the ramparts of Ulm and 
thus he addressed their officers: " Gentlemen, 
war has its chances. Often victorious, you 
[ 145 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

must expect sometimes to be vanquished. Your 
master wages against me an unjust war. I 
say it candidly, I know not for what I am fight- 
ing." 

Massena, who had been sent by Napoleon to 
fight his way into Austria by way of Italy, 
was equally successful, driving, in a few weeks, 
the Archduke Charles and 60,000 men out of 
Italy and in full retreat toward the Austrian 
capital. Marshal ISTey, at the head of another 
division, was successful on the Upper Rhine 
against the Archduke John, and now these 
three great divisions of the French army were 
rushing on to Vienna. The Austrian Emperor 
and his household fled, and on November 13, 
1805, Napoleon entered the capital of the Aus- 
trian Caesars and took up his residence in the 
palace of Emperor Francis. 

For a moment we turn from this theatre of 
warfare to another. Spain had declared war 
on England and had put her fleet at Napo- 
leon's disposal. A battle took place ofl" Cape 
Finisterre with the allied fleets of France and 
Spain, consisting of twenty sail of the line, 
350 ships and four frigates on the one side, and 
the English fleet, with fifteen sail of the line 
and two frigates under Sir Robert Calder on 
the other. The English gained a nominal vic- 
[ 146] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

tory, though they captured but two of the 
enemy's ships. The latter made at once for 
Cadiz. Admiral Nelson, of whom we have 
heard before, then took command of an Eng- 
lish fleet composed of twenty-seven sail of the 
line and three frigates. The combined fleets of 
France and Spain now numbered thirty -three 
ships of the line and seven frigates and carried 
four thousand troops besides their regular 
crews. 

On October twenty-flrst, 1805, took place the 
battle so famous in history known as the Battle 
of Trafalgar, fought ofl" Trafalgar on the 
coast of Spain. The ships of the allied forces 
were drawn up in double line; those of Eng- 
land came on in two columns, that of the ad- 
miral displaying at her masthead the signal 
that all the world has read, " England expects 
every man to do his duty." When the smoke of 
battle had died away nineteen ships of France 
and Spain were in the hands of the English and 
seven that had escaped had been rendered un- 
serviceable ; but victory was at the tremendous 
cost of the life of the brave Nelson, who fell 
mortally wounded, exclaiming, " Thank God, 
I have done my dtity." 

Napoleon remained but a few days at 
Vienna and then pushed on over the Danube 
[147] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

into Moravia, fixing his headquarters at Brunn, 
two miles from Austerlitz. At Brunn the 
Austrian and Russian forces were concentrated 
under the eyes of their two emperors, Alex- 
ander and Francis, and on the second of De- 
cember, 1805, were prepared for battle. At 
midnight of the first Napoleon laid himself 
down for much needed rest. In one hour he 
arose, mounted his horse and set out to recon- 
noitre. He strove to escape observation, but 
the soldiers recognized him, and springing to 
their feet they received him with shouts of 
enthusiasm. Lighting fires of straw and fix- 
ing them to their bayonets, the whole line 
blazed in welcome, while shouts from 80,000 
soldiers rent the air. Napoleon asking the 
meaning of it was told that it was the anni- 
versary of his coronation. He then retired to 
his tent and issued a stirring proclamation to 
his troops: " Soldiers," he said, " I will myself 
direct all your battalions. I will keep myself 
at a distance from the fire if, with your accus- 
tomed valor, you carry disorder and confusion 
into the enemy's ranks ; but should victory ap- 
pear for a moment uncertain you shall see your 
emperor expose himself to the first strokes. 
Victory must not be doubtful on this occasion." 
[ 148 ] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

With such an appeal the veterans of France 
were roused to the highest pitch of frenzy. 

By four o'clock the Russian columns were 
in full march to surprise the French. Napo- 
leon was at once on horseback, a bugle sounded, 
and, as if by magic, the French army was in 
battle array. At first a fog obscured the field, 
then a ruddy glow appeared in the eastern 
horizon and the sun rose with unaccustomed 
brilliancy, producing a deep impression on the 
imagination of all. This was known after- 
wards as the " Sun of Austerlitz," and the vet- 
erans of this campaign in after years when 
beholding a brilliant sunrise recalled the one 
of this momentous day. 

Riding along the line on a fleet horse Napo- 
leon cried: " Soldiers, we must end the cam- 
paign to-day with a thunderbolt." The answer 
he received was the universal shout, " Long live 
the emperor." 

The Russians, by the advance of one wing 
of their army, had weakened their centre. 
Napoleon on seeing it, declared: " In twenty- 
four hours that army is mine." With the speed 
of the wind the French force poured in upon 
the weakened point in the Russian advance. 
With stubborn bravery the Cossacks held their 
positions. The battlefield looked like a prairie 
[1491 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

on fire. Two such magnificent armies had 
never met. Then Murat, the intrepid leader of 
the French cavalry, galloped upon the field 
with thousands of gleaming swords in air, and 
before the eyes of the Emperors of Austria and 
Russia the centre of their armies was broken. 
Their right was surrounded and forced into a 
hollow, whence they attempted to escape over 
the ice that covered a few small lakes. The 
French gunners poured a storm of shot upon 
the ice and broke it, and here died 20,000 men. 
The two alHed emperors, with the shattered 
remnants of their armies, fled in terror from 
the scene. 

Thus ended the " Battle of the Emperors," 
Napoleon taking 20,000 prisoners, forty 
pieces of artilleiy, and all the standards of 
the Imperial Guard of Russia. After the 
battle the Emperor Francis of Austria called 
on Napoleon, promised never to fight against 
him again (a promise he did not keep) , and ob- 
tained from him permission that Alexander of 
Russia might withdraw to his own dominions. 

Prussia at this time had 200,000 men ready 
for the field. Alexander of Russia had in per- 
son endeavored to persuade Frederick William 
to join the coalition, but without entire success, 
though the two emperors, before the tomb of 
[150] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

Frederick the Great, took an oath to sustain 
the cause of the alHed kings. There can be 
little doubt that if Napoleon had been defeated 
at Austerhtz Prussia would have thrown her 
splendid army against him. As it was, she 
intrigued and evaded month after month. 
Frederick William's beautiful queen, Louise, 
fanned the indignation and zeal of her people 
and, dressed in the uniform of the regiment 
that bore her name, she rode at its head; but 
still Prussia held back. There can be little 
doubt, too, that Napoleon bribed Frederick 
William into an attitude of inaction by the 
gift to him of Hanover. 

We cannot name the results, momentous as 
they are, of the Battle of Austerlitz. By it 
Napoleon became virtually ruler of the greater 
part of Germany. Austria gave up to the 
kingdom of Italy her Venetian territories and 
transferred to Bavaria her possessions of the 
Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Eugene Bea'uharnais, 
the son of Josephine, who had been made Vice- 
roy of Italy, took in marriage the eldest daugh- 
ter of the King of Hanover. Napoleon pro- 
claimed that the royal house of Naples had 
ceased to reign forever and proclaimed his 
brother Joseph King of Naples. Principalities 
were conferred on Napoleon's sisters, Eliza and 
[ 151 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARiTE 
Pauline. His brother Louis, who had married 
Hortense, the fair daughter of Josephine, be- 
came the King of Bavaria. A confederation 
was formed by the Kings of Wurtemberg and 
Bavaria, the Grand Duke of Berg, and other 
sovereigns of West Germany under the name 
*' The Federation of the Rhine," with Napo- 
leon as " Protector." This confederation was 
bound to place 60,000 soldiers at Napoleon's 
command. Thus was the Germanic Empire 
torn to pieces. Sweden, on the news of Auster- 
litz, suddenly became quiet. Napoleon then 
returned to Paris, signalizing his return by cre- 
ating a new order of nobility known as princes, 
dukes, and counts, and granting to his appoint- 
ees extensive estates in the newly conquered 
country. 

Prussia was now to fall under the displeasure 
of Napoleon and to reap the same reward that 
Austria had reaped before her. The friendship 
of Prussia had been a purchased friendship. 
She now looked upon the Confederation of the 
Rhine with suspicion and sought to bring about 
such a coalition of the other Germanic states 
as would offset that of the West. The Czar of 
Russia was quick to take advantage of Prus- 
sia's state of mind. Again he visited Berlin 
and promised the assistance of his army. Eng- 
[ 152 ] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

land was there with promises of money. Na- 
poleon, with his usual farsightedness, knew 
that war must come and determined to strike 
a blow before Russia could march her armies 
to the assistance of her ally. The Prussians 
made the mistake of taking the field before re- 
inforcements had come from their eastern 
neighbor. 

Advancing into Saxony, they compelled 
the Elector of Saxony to ally himself with 
Prussia, and then took up a position on the 
Saale, in front of the French army which 
came on in three great divisions. The Prus- 
sians made the further mistake of extending 
their line too far and of so placing it that their 
stores and magazines were behind their ex- 
treme right. Napoleon at once grasped the 
situation and, sending in his forces upon the 
enemy's right, turned it, took possession of the 
stores and magazines and blew up the latter. 
The Prussian king, finding himself about to 
be surrounded, formed his army into two divi- 
sions, and one, under his own leadership, re- 
treated toward Nuremberg, the other, under 
General Molendorf, toward Jena. 

On the evening of the thirteenth of October 
Napoleon arrived at Jena and found the enemy 
ready to meet him. Napoleon's own heavy 
[153] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

train of artillery was thirty-six hours' march in 
the rear, but, nothing daunted, he ordered his 
men to work all night in cutting a road through 
the rocks and in drawing up their light guns 
on the neighboring heights. Both armies were 
closing in battle the next day before the sun 
revealed to either commander the divisions of 
his foe. As soon as the sun had risen Napoleon, 
with his glass, saw where a bold charge would 
decide the battle and ordered Murat to advance 
with his cavalry. These brave horsemen leaped 
to the contest, dashed through the enemy's lines, 
spreading havoc on every side. Twenty thou- 
sand Prussians were either killed or taken pris- 
oners, and 300 cannon, sixty royal standards, 
and twenty generals were the trophies of 
French victory. Thus was defeated an army 
that started out with 150,000 men, led by kings 
and princes, and thus the Prussian monarchy 
lay at the feet of Napoleon. One after another 
her strong fortresses fell into the victor's hands, 
and he himself, on October twenty-fifth, en- 
tered Berlin, Frederick William of Prussia 
having fled to Konigsberg. 

While at Berlin Napoleon visited the tomb 
of Frederick the Great, where Frederick Will- 
iam and Alexander had sworn allegiance 
against France. Napoleon, it is said, took 
[154] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

from the mausoleum of Frederick the Great 
the sword and orders of the Great Frederick 
and sent them to Paris, saying, " These orders 
and sword shall witness no other scene of per- 
jtiry over the ashes of Frederick." He sent 
to Paris also the best pictures and statues of 
Berlin and Potsdam. Thus he laid the founda- 
tion for the seemingly undying enmity that 
has existed for generations between the Ger- 
man and the French. 

ISTapoleon was now the master of the whole 
seacoast of continental Europe excepting only 
that which bordered the territories of Russia 
and Turkey. At Berlin he announced what 
is known as the Decrees of Berlin, in which 
he sought to punish England by way of her 
commerce. In these decrees he declared the 
British Islands to be in a state of blockade and 
that any intercourse with that country would 
be considered treason against himself. At this 
time a deputation from Paris came to Berlin to 
congratulate him. They carried back with 
them the trophies of his victories and a demand 
for a new levy of 80,000 men. 

Napoleon now advanced to meet the Rtis- 

sians, who were still unconquered and in the 

field. Between Russia and Germany lay 

stricken Poland. Napoleon allowed Poland to 

[ 155 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

believe that her savior was at hand. Kosciusko 
wrote a stirring appeal from Paris and the 
Polish officers of the French army wrote glow- 
ing accounts of the high character of Napoleon, 
promising that the great conqueror would re- 
store to them their ancient grandeur; thou- 
sands of brave Poles therefore rushed to swell 
the army of the conqueror. The French army 
reached Warsaw, the capital of Poland, 
November 28, 1806. Soon it encountered the 
Riissian army under Bennigsen and drove it 
back from post to post until it made a stand 
at Pultusk. Here the French charged and met 
with a repulse which was nothing less than a 
disaster, 8,000 French, among them Lannes, 
being either killed or wounded. Had the Rus- 
sians followed up their advantage, defeat must 
have come to Napoleon. As it was, the French 
quietly retired into winter quarters, the emperor 
taking up his residence in Warsaw and sta- 
tioning his army in the towns round about. But 
the Russian army was not idle. They were 
better able to stand the severe cold of this lat- 
itude, and in detachments they struck telling 
blows here and there upon the French outposts. 
Napoleon, therefore, determined to move be- 
fore spring. His first attempt was to get in 
the rear of the enemy and cut them off from a 
[156] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

retreat toward Russia. In these manoeuvres 
the French soldiers suffered terribly, living 
part of the time on frozen roots. Finally the 
soldiers demanded battle. Death was better 
than the horrible suffering they were undergo- 
ing. The Russian army numbered 100,000 men 
and was located at Eylau. Napoleon reached 
there February seventh, and on that day fight- 
ing took place in and about the town with great 
loss on both sides. On the eighth the French 
charged at two points but were repulsed. A 
fierce storm arose at midday, the snow blowing 
into the eyes of the Russians. The neighbor- 
ing village of Serpallen took fire and dense 
smoke rolled over the battle-field. The con- 
flict raged till ten at night and was the longest 
and fiercest Napoleon had yet fought. After 
fourteen hours' continuous fighting the two 
armies held the same positions they held at the 
beginning. Fifty thousand corpses lay upon 
the frozen ground, fully one-half of whom were 
•French, and twelve French standards were in 
the hands of the Russians. The battle ended 
without victory for either side, the Russians 
retiring toward Konigsberg with their cap- 
tured standards and the French not pursuing. 
Five days later Napoleon offered to Frederick 
William at Konigsberg a nearly complete res- 
[157] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

toration of his dominions if he would accept a 
separate peace ; but Frederick William refused 
the offer. 

On February nineteenth Napoleon retired 
on the Vistula and summoned new forces from 
France. Dantzic, which had held out up to 
this time, was taken on May seventh, and then 
Napoleon took the field again with 280,000 
men. After a few smart engagements with the 
Russian army of 90,000, Napoleon, on June 
thirteenth, came upon the main body of his 
enemies on the west bank of the AUer, opposite 
Friedland. Napoleon deceived the Russian 
general, who with his army was on the west 
bank, into thinking that he was in the presence 
of but a small body of French, whereupon the 
Russians sent a small detachment across the 
river to the attack. Napoleon, by a precon- 
ceived plan, retreated, and by so doing drew 
a greater and greater force across the bridge 
until finally the whole Russian army had 
crossed and had the river at their back. 

At ten of the morning of the fourteenth 
the battle of Friedland began, and at five 
in the evening, after a general assault, the 
French were victorious and the Russians 
in retreat. On June twenty-first an armis- 
tice was agreed upon and on the twenty- 
[158] 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 

fifth Napoleon and the Emperor Alexander 
met on a raft in the river, embraced, and 
retiring under a canopy held a long con- 
versation in secret. Then Tilsit was made a 
nelitral town and here the two emperors lived 
for a time on terms of intimacy. Frederick 
William also came to take part in the negotia- 
tions, but Napoleon received him with scant 
courtesy. The treaty made at Tilsit gave up to 
Frederick ancient Prussia and upper Saxony, 
but Frederick was to remain the vassal of Na- 
poleon. The Prussian dominions of lower Sax- 
ony and on the Rhine, with Hanover and other 
States, became Westphalia, with Jerome Bona- 
parte as its king. This Jerome had been under 
the displeasure of Napoleon by having married 
a Miss Patterson, of Baltimore, in the United 
States. Now he was reconciled, having con- 
sented to marry a daughter of the King of 
Wurtemberg. There could be little doubt but 
what there were secret articles in the treaty at 
Tilsit by which Europe was to be divided be- 
tween Napoleon and Alexander. It was the 
discovery of these that led England a little 
later to fan again the flames of war. The fol- 
lowing August Napoleon returned to Paris to 
receive the homage of a people delirious from 
oft-repeated victories. 

[ 159 ] 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CONQUEST or SPAIN AND PORTUGAL — WAR 
WITH AUSTRIA 

The Treaty of Tilsit was ratified July 7, 
1807. With this treaty the sun of Napoleon 
reached its meridian splendor; from that time 
on its glory waned till its final setting forever 
in Waterloo. Up to this time the sympathies of 
every unbiased student of history must go to 
the man and the people who among the nations 
of Europe alone sought to maintain the 
equality of all men before the law, to abohsh 
caste and special privilege, and to promote 
popular liberty and equal justice as between 
man and man. From now on the friend and 
admirer of Napoleon must excuse and palliate 
and defend, and ofttimes must hide his head 
in confusion. Eaten up by an ambition born of 
success unprecedented in the history of the 
world. Napoleon forgot France, forgot liberty, 
forgot all but himself, until going from 
[160] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

blunder to blunder he fell — never to rise 
again. 

For a few brief months after Napoleon's 
return to Paris tranquillity reigned throughout 
Europe, but the fires of hatred were smolder- 
ing and required but a little breeze to fan them 
into flame. Nominally, at least, the continent 
was now united with Napoleon against Eng- 
land, and the Decrees of Berlin promulgated 
by him, by which English goods were to be kept 
out of France, were made operative throughout 
the continent, excepting Spain and Portugal. 
England retorted with a declaration that she 
would search all merchant vessels, and that 
neutrals should not be allowed to trade unless 
they had touched at a British port and paid 
duties there. Napoleon then declared that any 
ship submitting to England's demands should 
be treated as an English ship. 

England could not be expected to remain 
quiet under such provocation. About the mid- 
dle of August an English fleet, with a force 
under Sir Arthur Wellesley, appeared before 
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, bom- 
barded the city for three days and three nights, 
destroying public buildings, churches, libraries, 
and eight hundred of the homes of the citizens 
as well as hundreds of men, women, and chil- 
[161] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

dren, and received its surrender with that of 
the Danish fleet. Napoleon was enraged. 
Alexander of Russia dismissed the British 
Ambassador from St. Petersburg, and Russia, 
Austria, Prussia, and Denmark declared war 
on the commerce of England. This would have 
been greatly to the advantage of Napoleon 
had he not thrown away the good fortune, 
thus fallen in his lap, by a blunder almost 
unexplainable. 

English goods were finding their way into 
Europe by way of Portugal. By a series of 
intrigues it was agreed between Napoleon and 
the imbecile King Charles IV. of Spain, in 
the Treaty of Fontainebleau, that Spain was 
to furnish 27,000 troops and France 28,000 for 
the invasion of Portugal, while France was to 
assemble 40,000 troops as a reserve at Bayonne 
ready to take the field if England interfered. 
In November, 1807, the allied armies under 
Junot poured into Portugal ; it surrendered al- 
most without the shedding of a drop of blood, 
the prince-regent fleeing in an English ship to 
the Brazils. 

Napoleon's eye was now, if not from the very 

first, on Spain itself, where a weak king, a 

profligate queen and her paramour (Godoy), 

and Prince Ferdinand, the heir-apparent, were 

[162] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

intriguing against one another, each at the 
head of a party of corrupt nobles. Napoleon 
thought the fruit ripe for the plucking and 
marched his army of reserves, under Murat, 
into Spain, and another army of 12,000 
through the eastern Pyrenees, and gained by 
treachery or in the guise of friendship one 
after another of the Spanish strongholds in 
the north of Spain. 

Each of the Spanish parties supplicated aid 
from Xapoleon in his quarrel against the 
others. Charles IV. asked protection against 
his son, and Ferdinand asked the hand of a 
Bonaparte princess in marriage. Napoleon lis- 
tened and put off answering, meanwhile push- 
ing his armies slowly but stirely into the heart 
of the country. At last a panic seized the 
Spanish capital, Charles IV. abdicated the 
throne, and Ferdinand was proclaimed king. 
Murat, now in command of the French armies 
in Spain, surrounded the Spanish capital with 
30,000 troops, and on March 23, 1808, with 
10,000 men entered Madrid. Charles IV. and 
Ferdinand now each appealed to Napoleon for 
recognition. Each was led to believe that 
something might be had by appearing before 
Napoleon in person; so in April at about the 
[ 163 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

same time each appeared at Bayonne and had 
audience with the emperor. 

The result was that Charles IV. resigned 
his crown for himself and his heirs, accepting 
in return a pension, as did also Ferdinand. 
Godoy was exiled to Italy and pensioned. 
Thus Spain and Portugal were added as gems 
to the crown of the victor, but by means which 
though comparatively bloodless will not bear 
the light of enquiry. But, after all, he was but 
following the precedent of his times as set 
by Russia, England, and Prussia, whose em- 
pires were bUilt after the same method. Napo- 
leon himself seems to have apprehended the 
danger of the step he was taking in usurping 
the throne of an old and proud people, for in 
cautioning Murat against going too fast he 
says, " Remember, if war breaks out, all is 
lost." 

Soon all Spain was in insurrection. Mes- 
sages were flying to England invoking aid 
she was eager to lend, and in every court of 
Europe there was ill-concealed satisfaction 
over the fatal step that had thus been taken 
by the hitherto shrewd conqueror. 

With 80,000 troops in Spain NTapoleon soon 
reestablished tranquillity in Madrid, and slim- 
moning the Council of Castile commanded 
[164] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

them to elect a new sovereign, which they did 
by naming Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bona- 
parte, then King of Naples. Joseph, pro- 
tected by Napoleon's army, reached Madrid in 
safety and was crowned king July 24, 1808. 
Murat, who it is said was disappointed in not 
being selected by Napoleon, was made King of 
Naples. 

Portugal burst into insurrection and allying 
herself with the loj^al part of Spain concluded 
a treaty of offense and defense with England. 
The forces now opposed were gigantic. Napo- 
leon could sumjnon one-half a million men com- 
manded by the best generals of Europe, accus- 
tomed only to victory. The name of Napoleon 
was worth an army in itself. Great Britain had 
a standing army of 200,000, and the largest 
and best fighting navy in the world. France, 
with 80,000 troops, held one-half of the for- 
tresses of Spain. The credit of each nation was 
unlimited and each believed in the justice of 
its cause. 

The first great battle between the French 
and Spaniards was at Riosecco, July 14, 1808, 
where 20,000 Spaniards fell. Elsewhere the 
Spaniards were more successful; in a series 
of combats divisions of the French army were 
repulsed or driven back by loval Spaniards — 
[ 165 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

men and women, who fought together in the 
ranks headed often by their priests. At Bay- 
len, 20,000 French troops surrendered after a 
long and desperate battle. Within a few days 
Joseph Bonaparte fled from Madrid to Vit- 
toria. Then occurred the famous siege of 
Saragossa by the French, in which the Span- 
iards displayed wonderful bravery and almost 
unparalleled heroism, resulting in the retreat 
of the French after a vain effort to overcome 
the town continuing through two months. 

On August 8, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley 
landed in Portugal with 10,000 English troops 
and immediately set out for Lisbon. Junot, 
commander of the French army in Portugal, 
had 24,000 troops. On August 21, the two 
armies met, and the result was a defeat for 
the French with a loss of thirteen cannon and 
2,000 men. In a few days the French with- 
drew from Portugal under the terms of an 
armistice by which they surrendered their 
magazines, stores, and armed vessels, on condi- 
tion that the French soldiers be carried to a 
French port and be permitted to take with 
them their private property. , 

Napoleon now saw that he himself was 
needed in the field to retrieve the losses of his 
generals, and determined to cross the Pyrenees 
[166] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
with an army that would carry everything 
before it. There were at this time 60,000 
French troops in Spain, opposed by three inde- 
pendent Spanish armies of a total strength of 
about 125,000. Napoleon, with 200,000 fresh 
troops, marched through France to the Pyre- 
nees. " Comrades," he said, " let us bear our 
triumphant eagles to the Pillars of Hercules! 
. . . What you have done, and what you are 
about to do, for the happiness of the French 
people and for my glory, shall be eternal in 
my heart! " 

Leaving his army for the moment, Napoleon 
met Alexander of Russia in a conference at 
Erfurt, where the two sent a message to the 
King of England proposing peace. His reply 
was in the negative. Then giving orders to 
strengthen his armies in Germany and Italy, 
for fear of Austria, Napoleon hastened to 
Paris, then to Bayonne, and then to Vittoria, 
where in an inn he called for a map and in two 
hours had planned his campaign and put the 
forces in motion. In an incredibly short time 
he opened the way to Madrid. 

On November 30, 1808, Napoleon with 

his guards reached the defile of the Som- 

mosierra, ten miles from Madrid, and found 

12,000 men defending the pass. Sixteen 

[167] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

pieces of artillery completely swept the road. 
Napoleon rode to the mouth of the pass, 
and surveying the scene, ordered his Polish 
lancers to charge up the road in face of the 
battery. The brave fellows, led by General 
Krazinski, fearlessly obeyed, with the result 
that the Spaniards fled, leaving their cannon 
and their dead on the field. Napoleon now 
encamped about Madrid, which was in a terri- 
ble state of confusion, bells ringing, ferocious 
bands parading the streets, and scenes of vio- 
lence occurring everywhere. On December 4 
the city surrendered and the French army 
marched in. 

After issuing edicts abolishing the inquisi- 
tion and feudal rights, and proclaiming an 
almost general amnesty, Napoleon set out for 
Portugal, where there existed a feeble Spanish 
army in scattering detachments and an Eng- 
lish army of 33,000 men under Sir John Moore 
which was advancing into Spain. Napoleon 
put himself at the head of 50,000 men and 
started for Lisbon. The English heard of it 
and at once turned about and began a disas- 
trous retreat, reaching the seacoast at Corunna 
just in time to embark and set sail — but with- 
out their commander, who fell gallantly fight- 
ing. 

[168] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

Napoleon did not return to Madrid, as would 
seem natural, there to complete the work of 
conquest, but to Paris, where there was urgent 
need of his presence, for Austria had again 
declared war. Riding on post-horses, a part 
of the time as fast as thirteen miles an hour, 
he reached Paris January 22, 1809. Francis 
of Austria had never recognized Joseph as 
King of Spain, and had never forgotten his 
losses through the battle of Austerlitz. A bribe 
of $20,000,000 paid him by England helped 
him to forget his treaties with Napoleon. Na- 
poleon's keen eye had noted before he left for 
Spain the warlike preparations of his old enemy 
and was not unprepared when, on April 6, 
Austria declared war. 

A half million men were now under the ban- 
ners of Francis of Austria, commanded by the 
Archduke Charles, of whom we have before 
heard. In a few days the Archduke Charles 
crossed the Inn with 300,000 men, the Arch- 
duke John with two divisions started for Italy, 
and the Archduke Ferdinand stationed him- 
self with a division where he could repel Rus- 
sia in case Alexander took up the French cause. 
Napoleon, accompanied by Josephine, at once 
went to Strasburg, where on April 13 he 
formed his plan of campaign. He ordered the 
[ 169 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

two widely separated wings of his army, under 
Massena and Davoust, to march forward and 
converge to a centre; he himself advanced 
between them ; in doing so the French hemmed 
in two divisions of the Austrians, which on the 
21st surrendered 9,000 men, thirty cannons, 
and all their stores. By splendid generalship 
Napoleon now by diiFerent routes led the divi- 
sions of his army to a point where at the same 
moment they converged on the divisions of 
Archduke Charles and after a hard battle (at 
Eckmuhl) the Austrians left in Napoleon's 
hands 20,000 prisoners, fifteen colors, and 
nearly all their artillery. The archduke made 
another stand at Ratisbon, but was again 
routed and fled into Bohemia, leaving Vienna 
at NTapoleon's mercy. On May 10th the con- 
queror, after a short bombardment of the city, 
received its surrender and again took up his 
residence in the palace of Francis. 

The Archduke Charles, having recruited his 
army in Bohemia, posted himself strongly on 
the left bank of the Danube. Napoleon, com- 
ing up on the right bank, found the river swol- 
len and well-nigh impassable. On May 20th, 
however, by means of a bridge of boats, he 
succeeded in crossing at Ebersdorff. On the 
21st the two armies met, the Austrians being 
[170] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

splendidly posted on rising ground and pro- 
tected by 200 pieces of artillery. The first day's 
fighting brought partial success to the Aus- 
trian arms after terrible carnage. The follow- 
ing morning victory for the French seemed 
secure, when it was found that fire-ships had 
been sent down the river and that a part of the 
bridge between the island of Lobau and the 
right bank was destroyed and Napoleon's army 
was cut off from the reserve which still re- 
mained across the river. Napoleon at once 
retreated across that part of the bridge that re- 
mained on to Lobau and adjacent islands. Here 
he was cooped up, separated by a raging flood 
from his reserves, until, on July 4, 1809, he 
established communications with the right 
bank and arranged for crossing to the left 
bank again at a point where the enemy did 
not expect him. 

When the Austrians perceived this move 
they took up their position with the town of 
Wagram as their centre. Here on July 6, a 
great battle took place. Napoleon poured the 
whole strength of his army upon the Austrian 
centre, which had been weakened by being ex- 
tended too far, and after a sanguinary con- 
test Napoleon took 20,000 prisoners, and all 
the enemy's baggage and artillery. At this 
[ 171 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

battle fell Lannes, a general of magnificent 
courage, both of his legs shot away by a cannon- 
ball. Napoleon knelt by his side, his clothing 
stained by the blood of the hero, and cried, 
'* You will live, my friend, you will live " ; but 
it was not to be so. Thus ended the war with 
Austria. 

To return for a moment to Spain: Sara- 
gossa, again besieged, had surrendered to the 
French. The French under Soult had been 
defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley at Oporto, as 
had been Marshal Victor by this same able 
English general at Talavera. Elsewhere in 
Spain battles had raged with varied results. 
Portugal was again in the hands of the Eng- 
lish under command of Wellesley (after the 
battle of Talavera created Lord Wellington) . 

Napoleon remained in the palace at Schoen- 
brunn, near Vienna, till October of this year, 
1809. Here an assassin attempted to take his 
life, but was caught just as his dagger was 
about to enter the emperor's body. Napoleon 
asked of the assassin, " What injury have I 
done you? " 

" To me, personally, none," he answered, 
" but you are the oppressor of my country, the 
tyrant of the world, and to have put you to 
[172] 



WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

death would have been the highest glory of a 
man of honor." 

That Napoleon should quarrel with the Pope 
of Rome seemed inevitable, seeing that in 
Spain the Catholic clergy were leading in the 
insurrections and the Pope had refused to join 
with him in his war with England. The quar- 
rel culminated in a decree by Napoleon strip- 
ping his Holiness of nearly all of his Italian 
territory and annexing it to the kingdom of 
Naples. In February, 1809, a French division 
of the army took possession of Rome itself; 
the Pope, however, was permitted to remain in 
the Vatican, attended by his guards. On May 
17th the emperor issued a decree that the tem- 
poral sovereignty of the Pope was wholly at 
an end, incorporating Rome with the French 
empire, settling a pension on the Pope, and 
appointing a committee for the civil govern- 
ment of Rome. The Pope thereupon excom- 
municated Napoleon. Then, under pretext 
that the Pope's life was in danger, the French 
general in command in Rome arrested the Pope 
and for over three years he remained a prisoner 
at Fontainebleau, though treated with great 
courtesy. 

The treaty of peace with Austria brought 
many changes, chief of which was the giving up 
[ 173 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

by Austria of territory to the amount of 45,- 
000 square miles and a population of nearly 
four million people, the losing of every one of 
her seaports, and the payment of $20,000,000. 
Napoleon's demands are generally conceded to 
have been moderate, and a reason for his mod- 
eration may be found in the following chapter. 
Napoleon left Vienna October 16th, and on 
the 14th of the following month the pubUc 
bodies of Paris addressed him as " the greatest 
of heroes, who never achieved victories but for 
the happiness of the world." 



[174] 



CHAPTER XV. 

JOSEPHINE DIVORCED — NAPOLEON MARRIES 
MARIA LOUISA OF AUSTRIA — WAR WITH 
RUSSIA — THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 

Napoleon was now at the head of a magnifi- 
cent empire of eighty miUion people. But 
what if he should die? 

Josephine had borne no children to Napo- 
leon, and the matter of an heir to the imperial 
title had for some time given great concern 
to the emperor. Hortense, Josephine's daugh- 
ter by her first husband, had borne to her 
husband a son, Louis Bonaparte, who was for 
a time regarded as the heir to France, but the 
boy died of croup in infancy. It was thought, 
too, by some that Napoleon would adopt Eu- 
gene, Hortense's brother, but it was not to be. 

There is no doubt but that, desiring a son 
and heir. Napoleon had for some time contem- 
plated divorcing Josephine and marrying a 
princess from some one of the royal families of 
[ 175 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

Europe. There is evidence that he made over- 
tures at the Peace of Tilsit, and afterwards at 
the conference at Erfurt, to the Czar of Russia 
for the hand of the Czar's sister, and that his 
overtures were received coldly. There is ample 
proof that Napoleon loved Josephine; his 
letters to her were full of ardent devotion. She 
was easily the most brilliant woman in Europe 
and lent a splendor to the court of Erance that 
added immensely to its influence and renown. 
Napoleon was not insensible to her queenly 
qualities. There are historians who seek to 
detract from the character of Josephine, but 
the world has been slow to believe the stories, 
many of which were no doubt inspired by her 
enemies. 

This chapter in the life of Napoleon is an 
exceedingly sad one. How sincere Napoleon 
was in his declarations that he set Josephine 
aside for reasons of state, we shall never know. 
The claim made by him and for him by his 
friends, was that his love for France and his 
interest in her welfare was so great that he 
would break the dearest ties and sacrifice his 
own happiness to serve her interests. 

Josephine, while presenting to the world an 
appearance of unalloyed happiness as the mis- 
tress of the most splendid court in Europe, 
[176] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

trembled at heart as she saw the dazzling 
heights to which her imperial master had risen. 
Hints more or less full of meaning had reached 
her from various sources that the interests of 
the state demanded that Napoleon should have 
an heir, so that when Fouche, with studied 
diplomacy, presented the subject to her and 
asked her, for the good of France, that she 
allovf herself to be divorced, she was not unpre- 
pared for the blow. Still, unable to believe 
that her loving spouse had taken this means 
of gaining her consent, she hurried to Napo- 
leon and demanded whether he had authorized 
the proceeding of his minister. Napoleon de- 
nied it, but on her demanding that Fouche be 
dismissed he refused, and thus practically ad- 
mitted that Fouche's procedure had not been 
contrary to his wishes. 

After several tearful interviews Josephine 
accepted the inevitable. On December 15, 
1809, Napoleo|i announced the dissolution of 
his marriage to his Council, and Josephine, ap- 
pearing before them, consented thereto. The 
title of empress was to continue with her for 
life, and she was to receive a pension of two 
million francs, to which Napoleon added a 
third million. The heartbroken queen left the 
Tuileries for her villa of Malmaison. It has 
[ 177 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

been said that when T^apoleon repudiated Jo- 
sephine he repudiated Europe. 

In a few weeks it was announced that Napo- 
leon had demanded and received the hand in 
marriage of Maria Louisa, daughter of Fran- 
cis of Austria. On March 11th, 1810, they 
were married by proxy in Vienna. On March 
28, Napoleon met the young archduchess, as 
in her carriage she was proceeding toward 
Paris, and, brushing aside all ceremony, 
pushed aside the curtains of her carriage and 
introduced himself to his bride. On April 2, 
the wedding was repeated with great splendor 
in Paris. Then followed a tour of the prov- 
inces. The royal bridegroom for a time de- 
voted himself to his bride with every mark of 
affection. " He made love," says one, " like 
a Hussar," but letters at intervals passed be- 
tween him and Josephine and his visits to Mal- 
maison were not infrequent. 

While Napoleon was thus engaged in affairs 
of the heart, he did not forget that he still had a 
stupendous task before him in subduing Spain 
and Portugal, where the war, of which we read 
in the preceding chapter, was still in progress. 
To be sure, Joseph was on the throne propped 
up by 300,000 soldiers, but the greater part of 
the country was still in the possession of the 
[178] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

enemy, the French holding btit a few districts, 
and in these being shut up in their fortresses. 
Massena, second only to Napoleon as a general, 
was in command of 100,000 Frenchmen known 
as the Army of Portugal. With these he 
sought to drive the English, under the com- 
mand of him who afterwards was known as the 
Duke of Wellington, out of the peninsula. 
Opposed to Massena were 20,000 British troops 
and 30,000 Portuguese. Massena pushed 
them little by little toward Lisbon and the sea. 
At last Wellington halted in a strong position 
protecting the port of Lisbon. Massena found 
it impossible to advance, and for many months 
lay exposed on every side to the attack of the 
Portuguese peasants, threatened with famine 
from having his communications in the rear 
cut off and finding the country about him laid 
waste b}^ the inhabitants. 

At last Massena was forced to retreat. Lord 
Wellington started in hot ptirsuit until the 
French, crossing the Portuguese boundary, 
were emboldened, by the receiving of reinforce- 
ments, to return. A battle was fought on the 
fifth of May, 1811, and the French once more 
defeated. Massena was recalled and Marmont 
sent to take his place. 

Wellington now had full possession of Por- 
[179] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

tugal. In rapid succession he took three impor- 
tant fortresses. On the 21st of July, 1812, the 
armies of Wellington and Marmont lay facing 
each other near Salamanca. The following 
day a great battle ensued in which the French 
lost 7,000 men and were sent flying toward 
Madrid. Welhngton then pushed on and soon 
entered the capital of Spain, King Joseph 
fleeing on his approach. 

To go back a few months : A son was born to 
Nai3oleon and the empress on the twentieth 
of March, 1811, and Napoleon taking him in 
his arms cried to his courtiers, " Gentlemen, 
the King of Rome." The announcement of the 
birth of the child in the royal palace was made 
by signal rockets, and when immediately there- 
after one hundred and one guns proclaimed 
that the child was a boy, all Paris went into a 
frenzy of enthusiasm, the people rushing into 
the streets and squares, filling the air with 
shouts of " Long live the Emperor," and many 
shedding tears of joy. Napoleon was delirious 
with joy. Secretly he hastened, a little later, 
to show the child to Josephine, who caressed it 
and cried over it as if it were her own. Never 
had a child been ushered into the world with 
such a magnificent welcome nor been born to so 
magnificent a heritage. 

[180] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

Many things now conspired to unsettle 
France and dim the lustre of the great name 
of Napoleon. The alliance with Austria on his 
marriage to Maria Louisa was unpopular with 
many of the republicans, who saw in it the last 
fatal step toward a ruling dynasty. The put- 
ting aside of Josephine had been far from 
popular with another faction. The ill-success 
of the French armies in Spain and Portugal 
had brought abolit the suspicion that the tide 
of military success had turned. Fouche, who 
had dared, without authority from his master, 
to send a delegation to London to ask on what 
terms the English would make peace, was ban- 
ished. Napoleon's quarrel with the Pope had 
made him bitter enemies among the papal 
party. New prisons were built throughout 
France and filled with political prisoners. The 
press had become enslaved. Russia had taken 
offense at the Austrian alliance, for, should 
Spain and Portugal be conquered, this alliance 
would leave Russia as the only prize worth 
fighting for that still remained on the conti- 
nent to whet the insatiable ambition of the 
French emperor. Everywhere could be heard 
rumblings of an approaching storm that boded 
ill to the " Man of Destiny." 

Napoleon at this time had at his disposal 
[181] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

over two million men. Eight hundred thou- 
sand of them were at his immediate command 
ready for the field. Not counting the 300,000 
that were in the Spanish Peninsula, he could 
bring an army of 650,000 against Alexander, 
should war break out. Napoleon might have 
come to honorable terms with him, but intoxi- 
cated by his successes he helped to widen the 
breach and precipitate war. Talleyrand ar- 
gued and Fouche earnestly urged the emperor 
against marching upon Russia, but both felt 
at once of what little effect were their words. 
Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, appealed to 
him on the ground that the war would be a 
Heaven-provoking crusade. The emperor led 
the cardinal to a window, and pointing up- 
wards, said: " Do you see yonder star?" 

" No, sire," replied the cardinal. 

" But I see it," Napoleon answered, and the 
interview was at an end. 

On May 16, 1812, Napoleon met the Em- 
peror of Austria and the Kings of Prussia, 
Naples, and other inferior countries, at Dres- 
den, and here, amid extravagant pomp, he laid 
down the policy which they were to adopt in 
case war should break out. On June 22, nego- 
tiations between Napoleon and Alexander were 
brought to a close in an address by the former 
[ 182] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

to the army in which he declared that they 
should now put an end forever to that haughty 
influence which Russia had exercised for fifty 
years over the affairs of Europe. Alexander 
followed with an address to his troops in which 
he said: " Soldiers, you fight for your religion, 
your liberty, and your native land. Your em- 
peror is among you ; and God is the enemy of 
the aggressor." 

The right wing of Napoleon's army con- 
sisted of 30,000 Austrians commanded by 
Schwartzenberg; the left wing of 30,000 by 
Macdonald. Between these was a great army 
of 250,000 under the coromand of Napoleon 
himself, with such lieutenants as Davoust, 
Ney, Junot, and Victor. The cavalry was under 
command of Murat, King of Naples. Auge- 
reau was to remain in the rear and protect com- 
munications with France. This magnificent 
army occupied a base of operations fully 300 
miles in extent. 

The greater part of the French army, before 
taking its position, had been reviewed at Fried- 
land. The Russians had 260,000 men in the 
field with their centre at Wilna under the com- 
mand of Barclay de Tolly. The plan of 
Alexander was to draw Napoleon on, retreat- 
ing slowly toward Moscow, and thus subject- 
[183] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

ing the multitudinous army of the enemy to the 
infinite difficulties of a campaign far from its 
base of supplies and in a strange country 
where the rigors of winter might accomplish 
that which arms could not. On June 24, 1812, 
Napoleon crossed the Niemen, near Kowno, 
and the die was cast. Alexander moved back 
slowly as Napoleon advanced. The French 
reached Wilna on June 28 and found it de- 
serted and everything that could be of use to 
such a vast host destroyed; but with the fore- 
sight for which he was always distinguished, 
Napoleon had brought along great quantities 
of provisions so that his soldiers were, for the 
time being, at least, independent of the country 
around them. 

The moving of such an unwieldy force 
of men, baggage, and provisions soon proved 
to be a matter of immense difficulty, and 
at the very beginning, while yet the French 
were at Wilna, the question of putting off 
the invasion for another year or pursuing it 
amidst the most trying conditions presented 
itself. At this time Alexander effected treaties 
with England, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey, 
with which last named country he had been at 
war, and from every quarter the Russians 
found reinforcements and supplies of money 
[184] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

and provisions. The enthusiasm of the Rus- 
sians was tremendous. A miUion Russians of- 
fered themselves to their emperor. Moscow 
alone offered to raise and equip 80,000 men; 
a grand duchess of Russia (whom Napoleon 
desired to marry) raised a regiment on her own 
estate; a Cossack chief promised his only 
daughter and 200,000 rubles to the man who 
should kill Napoleon. 

After remaining three weeks at Wilna the 
French advanced with St. Petersburg as their 
objective point, but on meeting with effective 
resistance they turned toward Moscow. En- 
gagement after engagement followed with 
temporary advantages to the French, the Rus- 
sians retreating, burning their fields and their 
villages as they went, and lea\ang nothing to 
the pursuing hosts but smoking ashes. On the 
demand of his troops for a general engage- 
ment the Russian commander-in-chief took up 
a position between Borodino and Moscow, and 
on September 7 the two armies stood face to 
face, each having ready for battle about 100,- 
000 men, with 500 guns. Napoleon addressed 
his troops in his characteristic fashion, calling 
upon them to behave themselves so that pos- 
terity might say of each of them, "He was 
in that great battle "beneath the walls of Mos- 
[185] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

cow." The battle was a succession of charges 
and slaughters. It was butchery on both sides 
of the most horrible description. The result 
of that awful day was the loss on each side 
of nearly 50,000 men. " Death," says one his- 
torian, " was the only victor." The Russians 
withdrew and ISTapoleon pressed on. 

On September 14 the cry of " Moscow! " 
" Moscow! " arose from the ranks and NTapo- 
leon looked down from " the Hill of Salva- 
tion " on the splendid city. Murat, with his 
cavalry, had pushed on to the very gates, where 
he had received word from the Russian general 
that unless two hours were granted for the safe 
withdrawal of the Russian troops he would set 
fire to the city. The two hours having expired, 
the French entered and found the streets and 
buildings deserted save for the rabble. On the 
following midnight flames broke out, but were 
soon extinguished. The next night the sky 
was again lurid with flames bursting from 
every quarter. During four days the con- 
flagration raged till but one-fifth of the ancient 
city remained. By the light of the flames Na- 
poleon dictated a letter to Alexander propos- 
ing peace, but an answer never came. In- 
stead, rumors reached him that all Russia was 
gathering about him. What should he do? 
[186] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

To remain shut up in Moscow during the 
approaching winter was to run the risk of his 
aUies in middle and western Europe, disre- 
garding their pledges and throwing off their 
allegiance. To attempt to return at this late 
hour, with winter fast closing in, was to sub- 
ject his heroic army to incomparable dangers. 
'News had reached him that two divisions of his 
army that were advancing into Russia by other 
routes had suffered defeat and that his army 
in Spain had lost the great battle of Salamanca. 
Following this, Murat was defeated in an en- 
counter under the very walls of Moscow. Na- 
poleon, then, quitting the ancient capital, with 
his whole army went to the support of Murat. 
No sooner had they left the city than the Rus- 
sians again took possession and sent forth 
bodies of troops to harass the French rear. 

From this time calamity followed calamity. 
A Russian winter was on and there was lack 
of food. The Cossacks hung about them day 
and night, advancing and retreating, burning 
bridges and towns before them and killing the 
stragglers. The annals of war fail to show a 
more fearful chapter than that which narrates 
the retreat from Moscow. We can not at- 
tempt to describe it. There was no effective 
discipline; except in case of scattering bands 
[187] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

and small detachments the men pursued their 
own way. Thousands sank by the wayside 
starved and frozen. It was a chain of corpses 
for a thousand miles. Men killed their horses, 
wrapped themselves in the reeking skins of 
these animals and drank their warm blood. The 
army which, when it left Moscow, mustered 
300,000 men, was soon reduced to a paltry 
40,000 who could be brought together. These 
Napoleon divided into four columns that were 
to follow one another at intervals of a day, 
Napoleon himself having command of the first 
division. When the two leading divisions met 
at Krasnoi, not much over three hundred miles 
in a straight line west of Moscow, they mus- 
tered a total of scarcely 15,000. Here Napo- 
leon is reputed to have drawn his sword and 
declared, " I have long enough played the 
emperor — I must be the general once 
more." 

In the meantime the rear divisions were 
meeting with continued misfortune, and Napo- 
leon, hearing of it, despaired of ever seeing 
them again, but on November 20 his despair 
was changed into joy by their coming up with 
him at Orcsa, where Napoleon hailed Marshal 
Ney as the bravest of the brave, and declared 
that he would have given all his treasure to be 
[188] 




o 

< 

H 
W 
Pi 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

assured of his safety. Napoleon was now at 
the head of the whole army, which consisted of 
only 12,000 men, including 150 cavalry. Five 
hundred officers still had possession of their 
horses and these formed themselves into a 
body-guard to the emperor. 

In the forests along the River Beresina the 
Httle army came suddenly upon 50,000 of their 
countrymen, who under Victor and Oudinot 
had entered Russia by another route. At 
Mololodeczno Napoleon heard news from Paris 
that caused him to quit the army and push on 
ahead ; so giving the chief command to Murat, 
he, with five companions, set off on the long 
journey to Paris. On December 10 he reached 
Warsaw. Here, on being congratulated on his 
escape from dangers, he cried, "Dangers, 
there were none — I have beat the Russians in 
every battle — I live but in dangers — it is for 
kings of Cockaigne to sit at home at ease. My 
army is in a superb condition still — it will be 
recruited at leisure at Wilna, and I go to bring 
up 300,000 men more from France. I quit 
my army with regret, but I must watch Aus- 
tria and Prussia, and I have more weight on 
my throne than at headquarters. The Rus- 
sians will be rendered foolhardy by their suc- 
cesses. I shall beat them in a battle or two on 
[189] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
the Oder and be on the Niemen again within 
a month." 

On December 14, Napoleon and his few 
companions reached Dresden, and on the 18th, 
Paris. The retreating French, by the addition 
of scattering bands, numbered 40,000 when 
they reached Wilna. Murat had left them and 
Eugene Beauharnais was in command. On 
arriving at Wilna the broken columns found 
rest and enough to eat. Strong men wept with 
joy at the sight of a loaf of bread. But even 
here they were attacked by the terrible Cos- 
sacks and driven on toward the Niemen. 
Crossing at Kowno they were on Prussian soil, 
where the Russians ceased their pursuit. The 
grand army of nearly one-half a million men 
that in August assembled on the confines of 
Russia was now reduced to scarcely 1,000 in 
arms, and not over 20,000 more, broken and 
disabled. It is pleasing to learn that the Prus- 
sian people received these poor, travel-stained, 
starved veterans with compassion and allowed 
them to remain unmolested for a time near 
Konigsberg. 

Thus briefly told is the story of Napoleon's 

disastrous campaign in Russia. The hitherto 

invincible conqueror had lost in it 125,000 men 

slain in battle, 130,000 by fatigtie, hunger, and 

[190] 



WAR WITH RUSSIA 

cold, 200,000 taken prisoners, including forty- 
eight generals and 3,000 regimental officers — 
a total loss of 450,000 men. One thousand 
pieces of cannon and seventy-five proud eagles 
and standards of France remained in the ene- 
my's hands. 



[191] 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

Within a few weeks after Napoleon's re- 
turn to Paris from his disastrous campaign in 
Russia, he found himself ready for the field 
again with 350,000 men. Nothing more clearly 
indicates the heroic national spirit of France 
and the power of the name of Napoleon than 
does this seemingly incredible statement, par- 
ticularly when it is remembered that there was 
scarcely a family in all France that had not lost 
a member in the Russian campaign. The 
rigorous winter of Russia had effected what 
armies could not do — it had defeated Napo- 
leon, but more than this, it had given birth to 
the hope among the enemies of the emperor 
that his star was at last in the descendant and 
that a suitable time had come for a final and 
successful effort to overthrow him. 

The people of Prussia burned with the desire 
[ 192 ] 



THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

to revenge themselves upon the victor of Jena, 
and on the 31st of January, 1813, Frederick 
WilKam called the nation to arms, with the 
result that the people rose as one man. Women 
contributed their jewelry and plate to be 
melted into money, while England poured in 
her gold. The Emperor of Russia hastened 
to support the Prussians, and on the 15th of 
March Alexander and Frederick William met 
at Breslau, where Alexander, noting the tears 
that rushed down the cheeks of the Prussian 
Emperor, cried, "Wipe them; they are the 
last that Napoleon shall ever cause you to 
shed." 

The command of the Prussian troops was 
given to Blucher, a dissipated old man but a 
catapult in battle, who hated the names of 
France and Napoleon with his whole soul, and 
when now again permitted to draw his sword, 
after a period of retirement, swore never to 
sheathe it again until the revenge of Prussia 
was complete. 

Lord Wellington, with a great and victori- 
ous army, was steadily pushing the French 
out of Spain, so that Napoleon found himself, 
in the spring of 1813, between three great 
armies led by the ablest captains that ever 
drew sword against him. Quitting Paris, he 
[193] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

reached, on April 18, the banks of the Saale, 
where he was joined by Eugene Beauharnais 
and the garrison that had been left at Magde- 
burg. Here 200,000 men were ready for ac- 
tion, with 200,000 more left as a reserve on 
the Rhine. Frederick and Alexander, with an 
immense army almost equal to that of Na- 
poleon, were at Dresden. Nearly half of the 
Russian forces yet remained east of the Vis- 
tula. Frederick William desired to push on 
to Leipsic, and Napoleon, seeking to intercept 
the plan and strike a blow before the Russian 
army could concentrate its two great divisions, 
pushed east and, on the 1st of May, met the 
enemy at Lutzen. Here a battle was fought 
which resulted in a retreat of the allies to 
Dresden and finally across the Elbe to Baut- 
zen. 

Marshal Ney now turned with a portion of 
the French army toward Berlin, hoping to 
draw the allied armies away from Bautzen 
to the defense of the Prussian capital. The 
attempt was a failure, however, as Frederick 
William's purpose was to draw Napoleon into 
the mountains. Napoleon at once moved on 
Bautzen, reaching there May 21, and found 
the enemy on the farther bank of the river 
Spree, surrounded by fortified heights. Cross- 
[ 194 ] 



THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

ing the river in the face of the enemy, the 
French took up their quarters in the town. 
The next day a fearful battle ensued, resulting 
in the withdrawal of the French and the ad- 
vance of Napoleon to Breslau. The Emperor 
of Austria now offered to mediate between the 
contending forces, and an armistice was agreed 
upon to begin the first of June, Napoleon re- 
turning to Dresden. 

Napoleon was now urged on all sides to 
make a treaty of peace that would end the 
war and leave him in undisputed possession 
of France. The arguments used were many 
and powerful. There was an unsettled feeling 
at home. Austria gave every appearance of 
preparing for war; should she join the allies 
there could be little doubt of the outcome. 
Wellington was universally successful in 
Spain, having driven the French into the 
Pyrenees. 

Nearly all of Napoleon's advisers in the field 
and at home urged him to accede to reasonable 
terms proposed by Austria, saying that should 
he withdraw into France he could strengthen 
his army, and behind the river Rhine and the 
Pyrenees bid defiance to the world. Instead 
of taking this advice, he declared, " Ten lost 
battles would not sink me lower than you would 
[195] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

have me place myself by my own voluntary 
act," and announced to his advisers that he 
did not wish for any plans of theirs, but did 
wish their service in the execution of his. On 
August 10, the armistice ended with nothing 
accomplished by the peace negotiators, and 
Austria alhed herself at once with Russia and 
Prussia. 

Napoleon now had 250,000 men, 100,000 of 
whom were at Buntzlaw, 50,000 at Zittau, 
20,000 at Pirna, 60,000 at Leipsic, and 25,000 
at his side at Dresden. One hundred and 
twenty thousand Austrians and 80,000 Rus- 
sians and Prussians, under command of the 
Austrian General Schwartzenberg, had their 
headquarters at Prague. Eighty thousand 
Russians and Prussians, commanded by 
Blucher, lay before Breslau. The Crown 
Prince of Sweden was at Berlin with an army 
of 90,000. The commanders of the three al- 
lied armies agreed that wherever the French 
should attack, the part of the army attacked 
should withdraw, the idea being to tempt 
Napoleon to leave Dresden, where was located 
the French magazines, at the mercy of some 
other division of the army, and permit the 
throwing of a large body of the allied troops 
between the French and the Rhine. Blucher, 
[ 196 ] 



THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

with his division at Breslau, began the move- 
ment by attacking the French at Buntzlaw. 
Napoleon quitted Dresden and hastened with 
the Imperial Guard to the relief. Blucher, in 
accordance with the general plan, retreated, 
Napoleon pursuing. At once the division 
of the enemy at Prague made a rush for 
Dresden, driving before them the French at 
Pirna. 

The attack on Dresden was made on August 
26, before Napoleon could retlirn to assist in 
its defense, but during the day the Imperial 
Guard made their appearance, crossing the 
bridge over the Elbe and bearing with them 
Napoleon, who, as Hoif man, a German writer, 
says, " carried the eye of a tyrant and the voice 
of a Hon as he urged on his breathless and eager 
soldiers." An attack was made at once, but 
night came on and the two armies remained in 
the presence of each other till the follov/ing 
morning, when the battle was renewed in a 
storm of wind and rain. In but a few hours 
200,000 men gathered about the French em- 
peror and flung themselves upon the allied 
troops, causing them to retreat with a loss of 
15,000 to 20,000 prisoners and twenty-six can- 
non, and the ablest of their leaders. Among 
those of the enemy who were slain was Moreau, 
[ 197 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
who had at one time fought under Napoleon. 
Shot in both legs, he continued to smoke a 
cigar while they were amputated, and died 
shortly after. 

Napoleon himself now retired to Dresden 
while his soldiers continued the pursuit of the 
enemy, but they went too far, for on the morn- 
ing of August 30 they found themselves sur- 
rounded by Prussian troops that appeared sud- 
denly in the rear, and after a disastrous battle 
surrendered to the number of 8,000 men, with 
all their arms and many eagles, the remainder 
of the army scattering among the hills. 
When news of this loss reached Napoleon 
at Dresden, it found him sick and weary, 
for not only had this misfortune befallen him 
but others. 

As soon as he had retired from the pursuit 
of Blucher, that general turned and swept 
back over the field, winning a complete victory 
on the 26th of August, causing a loss to the 
French of 15,000 men and one hundred guns. 
Other divisions of the French army had also 
suffered defeat, notably in an action at Denne- 
witz on September 7, in which the French lost 
10,000 prisoners and forty-six guns. At 
length the two divisions of the alhed armies, 
namely, the one comprising 90,000 men about 
[198] 



THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

Berlin and the other under Blucher, joined on 
the west bank of the Elbe, and it became mani- 
fest that Dresden must be given up by the 
French and Leipsic taken as the base of opera- 
tions. Here the emperor could number 136,- 
000 men, while the allies mustered not less than 
230,000. Scarcely had Napoleon reached Leip- 
sic on the 15th of October than the enemy ap- 
peared under the command of their General- 
in-Chief Schwartzenberg, who had with him 
the Emperors Alexander and Frederick Will- 
iam. A battle began on October 16, lasting 
till nightfall, with slight advantage to the allied 
armies. 

It was now evident to Napoleon that he must 
retreat from Leipsic, but before doing so he 
made an effort to obtain peace, through 
the Emperor of Austria, promising to give 
up Poland, Holland, Spain, Italy, and all 
Germany under certain conditions, but the 
oiFer was too late. Austria, Germany, Prus- 
sia, and Russia had sworn to make no treaty 
so long as a French soldier remained on the 
eastern side of the Rhine. Napoleon, receiv- 
ing no answer to his proposal, began the 
retreat with his 100,000 men. They set 
out at midnight of October 18, over two 
bridges, one of which was a temporary 
[ 199 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

structure and broke down before daylight. 
Napoleon had ordered that the remaining 
bridge be blown up if the advances of the 
enemy should make it necessary, and the offi- 
cer to whom the duty had been entrusted, deter- 
mining that the time had come, set fire to his 
train and blew up the bridge, cutting oif the 
escape of 25,000 Frenchmen who laid down 
their arms within the city. Napoleon lost in 
killed, wounded, and prisoners at Leipsic over 
50,000 men. 

The retreat to France was a bitter and 
sorrowful one. A halt was made at Erfurt, 
but Napoleon, learning that his enemies were 
attempting to place themselves between the 
Rhine and his flying columns, pushed on. On 
the morning of October 30, the French met a 
body of Austro-Bavarians at Hanau, where, 
with a loss of 6,000 of his men. Napoleon killed 
or wounded 10,000 of the enemy and took 4,000 
prisoners. The number of prisoners would 
have been greater had it not been for a patri^ 
otic miller who suddenly let the water into his 
millstream and separated the French cavahy 
from some German infantry whom they were 
driving before them. At length the remnants 
of the French army crossed the Rhine, and the 
emperor, leaving them, reached Paris in person 
[200] 



THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 

on November 9. When the Austrians and 
Prussians reached the Rhine in their pursuit, 
so great was their affection for the stream that 
they knelt upon its banks and shouted, " The 
Rhine! The Rhine!" 



[201] 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FRANCE INVADED — NAPOLEON OVERTHROWN 
AND DEPOSED 

The name of ISTapoleon had now ceased to 
be a terror, and even in France there were those 
who dared breathe a suspicion that its glory 
was about to set. TsTow misfortune followed 
misfortune with startling rapidity. The chap- 
ter of l^^apoleon's fall is shorter than that of 
his rise. By the campaign just concluded he 
had lost Germany, Hanover, Brunswick, 
Hesse. The Federation of the Rhine was dis- 
solved. Denmark allied herself with his ene- 
mies. The Prince of Orange returning from 
England became again ruler of Holland. The 
Austrians had sent an army into Italy and 
defeated Eugene Beauharnais. All Italy was 
rising against him. Not a single French sol- 
dier remained in Spain to withstand the power- 
ful army of Wellington. 

His four most powerful enemies, England, 
[202] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
Russia, Prussia, and Austria, were massing 
themselves on his eastern borders preparing to 
invade the sacred territory of France. 

Not only this, but the royalists of France 
were again becoming active and mustering 
about their leaders. The radical republicans, 
too, who had witnessed with dismay Napoleon's 
usurpation of power, looked upon his misfor- 
tunes with delight. His ablest leaders and 
counsellors, whom he had repeatedly insulted, 
now, when it appeared that his influence was 
about to depart, prepared to take a hand in his 
overthrow. " Ere I crossed the Rhine," said 
Napoleon at St. Helena afterwards, " I felt 
the reins slipping from my hands." 

The allied pov/ers now issued a proclamation 
declaring that it was for the interest of Europe 
that France should continue to be a powerful 
state and expressing their willingness to con- 
cede to her greater territory than her kings 
had ever claimed — the boundaries, namely, of 
the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pja^enees. But 
the indomitable spirit of Napoleon was not yet 
crushed. He issued ringing calls for more 
men, set the arsenals at work making guns, 
doubled the taxes, and put into every branch 
of the national service that prodigious energy 
which he more than any man that has ever 
[203] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

lived possessed. The Legislative Assembly 
refusing to do his bidding, he dissolved it. 
When his friends ventured to suggest that an 
honorable peace could be made that would leave 
him with a greater territory than that of which 
even Louis XIV. had boasted, he cried, 
" Shame on you! Wellington has entered the 
south. The Russians menace the northern 
frontier, the Prussians, Austrians, and Bava- 
rians the eastern. Shame! Wellington is in 
France and we have not risen en masse to drive 
him back. All my allies have deserted — the 
Bavarian has betrayed me. No peace till we 
have burned Munich. I demand a levy of 300,- 

000 men — with this and what I already have 

1 shall see a million in arms. I will form a 
camp of 100,000 at Bordeaux; another at 
Metz; a third at Lyons. But I must have 
grown men — these boys serve only to encum- 
ber the hospitals and the roadsides. Abandon 
Holland! Sooner yield it back to the sea! 
Senators, an impulse must be given — All 
must march — You are fathers of families 
— the heads of the nation — you must set the 
example. Peace ! I hear of nothing but peace, 
when all around should echo to the cry of war." 

He issued peremptory orders everywhere. 
He executed whole bands of soldiers guilty of 
[204] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
endeavoring to escape. Musicians paraded the 
streets singing ballads in honor of the emperor. 
Talleyrand said, "It is the beginning of the 
end." 

Napoleon dismissed the venerable Pope of 
Rome, who had been his prisoner at Fontaine- 
bleau, hoping that this might produce a good 
effect in Italy, but already Napoleon's brother- 
in-law, Mtirat, had withdrawn from his alliance 
with the emperor and thrown in his fortunes 
with Austria. He also released Ferdinand of 
Spain, urging upon him to return to his king- 
dom and, expelling the English, to re-establish 
his relations with France, whereupon Ferdi- 
nand re-entered Spain to the great joy of his 
subjects. 

On December 20, Schwartzenberg, at the 
head of a great army, crossed the Rhine be- 
tween Basle and SchafFhausen into Switzer- 
land, which was then neutral territory, and 
advancing through that territory unopposed 
soon showed himself before the gates of Dijon. 
On January 1, 1814, the army under Blucher 
crossed the river between Rastadt and Coblentz. 
A little later the army of the North, under 
Witzengerode and Bulow, crossed the frontier 
of the Netherlands. Wellington had already 
crossed the Pyrenees. Thus, 300,000 men, 
[ 205] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
making up four mighty armies, had invaded 
the soil of France. The news carried terror 
into every fireside. Nearer and nearer the hosts 
swept on to Paris, conquering everything be- 
fore them. On January 23, Napoleon sum- 
moned the officers of the National Guard to his 
palace. Nine hundred of them appeared before 
him. With him as he stood in this notable 
presence were the empress and the little King 
of Rome, the latter being carried in the arms 
of Countess Montesquiou. " Gentlemen," said 
Napoleon, " France is invaded. I go to put 
myself at the head of my troops, and with 
God's help and their valor I hope soon to drive 
the enemy beyond the frontier; but if they 
should approach the capital, I confide to the 
National Guard the empress and the King 
of Rome — my wife and my child." 

On January 24, Napoleon reviewed the 
troops in the court -yard at the Tuilleries, and 
on the next morning left his capital, appoint- 
ing the empress as regent and placing his 
brother Joseph at the head of her Council. At 
midnight he arrived at Chalons and immedi- 
ately resolved to attack Blucher, who was then 
in the neighborhood. Blucher stationed himself 
at Brienne — the town where Napoleon re- 
ceived his military education. Napoleon ap- 
[206] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
peared at Brienne with 70,000 men on the 29th. 
In the fight that followed Brienne was burnt 
to the ground and Blucher retired a little 
farther up the Aube. Napoleon said after- 
ward at St. Helena that during the charge 
at Brienne he recognized a tree under which, 
when a boy, he used to sit and read the " Jeru- 
salem Delivered " of Tasso. 

On February 1, Blucher attacked the French 
and defeated them, taking 4,000 prisoners and 
seventy-three guns. Napoleon then struck 
across the country to Troyes. There he learned 
that Blucher was advancing toward Paris. It 
was now winter and the roads were in fearful 
condition, but Napoleon set off with the main 
body of his army to cut oiF the enemy's advance. 
A part of Blucher's force was met and beaten, 
and Blucher, advancing rapidly with the main 
body of his troops, found himself suddenly in 
the presence of vastly superior numbers. All 
day he sustained the charges of the French, 
and at last was forced to retreat. In five days 
Napoleon had been three times successful, and 
the hearts of the soldiers were encouraged to 
believe that fortune would favor them in 
the end. A column of 4,000 Prussian pris- 
oners, with a large number of guns and stand- 
ards, was sent into Paris, and the people again 
[207] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

cried, " Vive Napoleon! " Another division of 
the allied armies, however, had reached as near 
the capital as Fontainebleau. NTapoleon in- 
stantly committed to others the care of watch-* 
ing Blucher and marched with the main body 
on Meaux, where, on the fifteenth of February, 
20,000 men joined him, commanded by 
Grouchy. 

Napoleon now sent a letter to the Emperor 
of Austria once more endeavoring to win him 
away from the enemies of France. Francis 
replied that on no account could he abandon 
the alliance, but urged Napoleon to make con- 
cessions ere it was too late and save himself and 
his house from ruin. Again he was urged on 
all sides that, while he was fortunate in holding 
in check one of the allied armies, others were 
successful and approaching the capital by rapid 
marches. His answer was that he had sworn at 
his coronation to preserve the territory of the 
republic entire and that he could not sign the 
treaties proposed without violating his oath. 

It is impossible for ns in our limited space 
to follow the rapid movements of Napoleon in 
his desperate eiForts to extricate himself from 
his difficulties. In these days the genius of the 
man shone with startling brilliancy. The fact 
that he was obstinate and perfidious cannot 
[208] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
weaken the admiration that we must have for 
his undaunted courage and his marvellous 
resolution and powers of invention. On the 
26th of March, 1814, the roaring of the enemy's 
cannon could he heard by the inhabitants of 
Paris. On the 27th Joseph Bonaparte held a 
review, and that same evening the allied armies 
passed the Marne. At three on the morning of 
the 28th they took Meaux, and the roads into 
Paris were filled with the terrified population 
fleeing to the capital, " with," says one, " their 
aged, infirm, children, cats, dogs, live stock, 
corn, hay, and household goods of every de- 
scription." 

On March 29, the empress, with her son and 
many members of the Council of State, with 
seven hundred soldiers and fifteen wagons 
laden with plate and coin from the palace, set 
off for Blois. Joseph Bonaparte issued a 
proclamation calling on the citizens to defend 
the city and encouraging them to believe that 
Napoleon, who was following on the rear of the 
enemy, would meet and overpower them tinder 
the walls of the capital. On March 30 the allies 
fought and won the final battle, and Alexander 
and Frederick immediately declared that they 
would spare the city provided the regular 
troops would evacuate it. Shortly after four 
[209] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

in the afternoon the cannon were turned on the 
city itself and shot and shell began to spread 
destruction within its walls. At five o'clock the 
city capitulated, Joseph Bonaparte himself 
having set off at one o'clock on a good horse 
for Blois. 

Napoleon reached Troyes on the night of the 
29th. On the 30th his friends endeavored to 
convince him that the fate of Paris was no 
longer a question and advised him to cease the 
pursuit and form a junction with another divi- 
sion of the army. He, however, continued to 
advance, refusing all counsel. In a post-chaise 
he drove on before his army at full speed with 
hardly an attendant. At one point he mounted 
on horseback and galloped without a pause into 
Fontainebleau late in the night. There he 
ordered a carriage, and taking two officers with 
him drove on towards Paris. But a few miles 
from the city he learned from a body of French 
cavalry that Paris had been given up. Even 
then he refused to halt. Jumping from his 
carriage he asked question after question, call- 
ing for this general and that, asking where were 
the enemy, where his wife and his boy. Again 
he entered his carriage and ordered it driven 
with all speed to Paris. " Come," said he, 
" we must to Paris — Nothing goes right 
[210] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
when I am away. They do nothing but blunder. 
They should have held out longer. . . . This 
comes of employing fools and cowards." 

It was urged upon him that to go to Paris 
was to rush on to death or captivity, and it 
was not tintil within a mile of the city that he 
was induced to abandon his design. Then, with 
perfect composure, he turned and drove back to 
Fontainebleau. At noon of March 31 the first 
of the allied troops began to enter the city. 
They made a splendid showing, 50,000 troops, 
and in their midst the Czar of Russia and the 
King of Prussia, with a great crowd of princes, 
ambassadors and generals, filled the crowd 
with wonder and delight, and shouts arose on 
all sides, " Vive I'empereur Alexander! — Vive 
le roi de Prusse! " while here and there arose 
the cry, " Vive Louis XVIII! " 

Alexander and Frederick William were 
urged to re-establish the House of Bourbon, 
but they hesitated. Alexander signed a procla- 
mation asserting that the allies would treat no 
more with Napoleon Bonaparte or any of his 
family. The Municipal Council met and pro- 
claimed that the throne was empty. On April 
1 the Conservative Senate assembled and pro- 
claimed a provisional government with Talley- 
rand as its head. Napoleon was deposed, the 
[211] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

vote in favor thereof being unanimous. The 
aUied princes appointed mihtary governors of 
Paris, and the populace busied itself in pulling 
down statues and pictures and effacing the 
arms and initials of Napoleon wherever they 
appeared. On April 4 Napoleon reviewed his 
troops at Fontainebleau and announced his 
intention of instantly marching to Paris. Fifty 
thousand men were all that he could marshal 
about him. After the review his generals fol- 
lowed him to his palace and there informed him 
that they would not accompany him in an 
attack on Paris if he refused to negotiate on 
the basis of his abdication of the throne, wher- 
upon he drew up and signed the following and 
sent it to Paris, with instructions to those who 
bore it that they should obtain the best terms 
they could for France — for himself nothing. 
The note read as follows : 

" The allied powers having proclaimed that 
the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to 
the re-establishment of peace in Europe, he, 
faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready 
to descend from the throne, to quit France, and 
even to relinquish life, for the good of his 
country, which is inseparable from the rights 
of his son, from those of the regency in the 
[212] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
person of the empress, and from the mainte- 
nance of the laws of the Empire. Done at our 
palace of Fontainebleau April 4, 1814. 

" Napoleon." 

The generals who bore this note to Paris were 
received by Alexander in person. The emperor 
expressed his surprise that it should contain no 
stipulations for Napoleon personally. Said he, 
" But I have been his friend, and I will will- 
ingly be his advocate. I propose that he retain 
his imperial title with the sovereignty of Elba, 
or some other island." 

The final terms agreed upon in favor of 
Napoleon and his house were these. First, the 
imperial title to be preserved by Napoleon, 
with the free sovereignty of Elba, guards, and 
a navy suitable to the extent of that island, and 
a pension from France of 6,000,000 of francs 
annually. Second, the duchies of Parma, Pla- 
centia, and GViastalla to be granted in sover- 
eignty to Maria Louisa and her heirs; and 
third, two milHons and a half of francs annu- 
ally to be paid by the French government in 
pensions to Josephine and the other members 
of the Bonaparte family. 

One by one his generals had deserted him, 
and on the 11th of April, abandoning all hope 
[213] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

of again leading an army, he executed the in- 
strument which formally renounced for himself 
and his heirs the thrones of France and of Italy. 
On April 20, he called his officers about him 
and told them that they had come to receive his 
last adieux. In his interview with them he 
bade them attach themselves to the new govern- 
ment and serve it as faithfully as they had 
served him. He asked that so much of his 
Imperial Guard as still remained might be 
drawn up in the courtyard of the Castle. He 
rode up to them on horseback and, tears drop- 
ping from his eyes, he dismounted in their 
midst. To these he said, " Be faithful to the 
new sovereign whom your country has chosen. 
Do not lament my fate. I shall always be 
happy while I know that you are so. I could 
have died — nothing was easier — but I will 
always follow the path of honor. I will record 
with my pen the deeds we have done together. 
I cannot embrace you all, but I embrace your 
general. Bring hither the eagle. Beloved 
eagle! May the kisses I bestow on you long 
resound in the hearts of the brave! Farewell, 
my children — farewell, my brave companions 
— surround me once more — farewell! " 

Josephine had fled from Paris on the ap- 
proach of the allied armies, but on being sent 
[ 214 ] 



NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
word by Alexander that she would be pro- 
tected she returned to Malmaison. Here the 
Czar visited her frequently, endeavoring to 
soothe her affliction, but even before the allied 
armies had left France she sickened and died. 
Maria Louisa and her son took up their journey 
to Vienna under the personal protection of the 
Emperor of Austria. 



[215] 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ELBA — THE ONE HUNDRED DAYS — WATERLOO 
— ST. HELENA — THE END 

The little island of Elba, the sovereignty of 
which the conquerors of Napoleon had decreed 
to him with a show of generosity, lay off the 
west coast of Italy two hundred miles from the 
coast of France, and boasted of a circumfer- 
ence of not over sixty miles and a population of 
about thirteen thousand. It was on May 4th, 
1814, that Napoleon set foot within this little 
Idngdom. What a fall was there from the con- 
queror of Europe to the master of a little rocky 
island, not more than a prison at its best! 

By permission of the allied powers the exiled 
emperor took with him eight hundred and fifty 
of the Imperial Guard, all picked men and all 
volunteers. With him also went Bertrand, 
Grand Master of the Palace, and some other 
intimate friends and servants, and later his 
mother, then seventy years old, and his sister 
Pauline joined him. 

[216] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
One reads with pathetic interest that while 
Napoleon was thus drinking the dregs of the 
cup of defeat, and turning his back upon his 
beloved France to suffer an ignominious exile, 
Josephine was dying at Malmaison with a 
prayer for him on her lips, and Maria Louisa 
and her son were enjoying the splendors of 
the court of the Austrian emperor. By the 
terms of the agreement between the powers, 
Maria Louisa and her son were to be sent to 
Elba to join Napoleon, but through the in- 
trigues of Maria Louisa's father, the Emperor 
of Austria, she was detained at Vienna, and 
finally permitted herself to engage in a folly 
that lost for her the reputation of a wife and 
mother. Constant, the son, grew up a dissi- 
pated youth and died at the age of twenty-one 
of consumption. 

Nor was this the only particular in which the 
conquerors of Napoleon showed lack of faith 
and disregarded their oaths. Napoleon was to 
receive a pension of $400,000 a year from the 
French Government, but not a dollar of it was 
paid. 

No sooner had Napoleon reached Elba than 

he set about with his accustomed energy to 

improve the condition of the people of his little 

kingdom, projecting great public improve- 

[217] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

ments, examining every nook and corner of the 
rocky coast, studying the resources and capa- 
bilities of the soil and encouraging the people 
to work and to improve their condition. All 
this took money, and when the promised pen- 
sion failed, he lost courage and patience. We 
may readily believe that this failure of the 
allies to do what they had agreed was what 
finally led Napoleon to formulate plans for a 
return to France and an effort to regain what 
he had lost. 

The enemies of Napoleon, not being satisfied 
with robbing him of his wife and child and his 
pension, within a few months were found plot- 
ting to remove him from the island of Elba, 
which they suddenly decided was too near at 
hand, to the rock-bound prison of St. Helena, 
and hired assassins were sent to Elba and barely 
thwarted in their efforts to take his hfe. 

Leaving Napoleon for the moment, sur- 
rounded by his seven hundred troops of the 
" Old Guard," in the company of his mother 
and his sister Pa\iline, trying as best he could 
with the little money at his command to keep 
up a show of dignity, and finding employment 
in the affairs of his little kingdom, let us turn 
again to France. Let us remember that it was 
Louis XVI. whose head had fallen from the 
[218] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 

block at the beginning of the Revolution. 
Louis XVII., as he is called, died as a mere 
boy. On the overthrow of Napoleon the 
Powers decreed that the brother of Louis XVL, 
who was then sixty years of age and living in 
England, should be King of France under 
the title of Louis XVIII. 

It was on May 3d, 1814, the day that Na- 
poleon saw for the first time from the deck of 
the British vessel, the " Undaunted," his little 
island kingdom, that Louis XVIII. made his 
triumphal entry into Paris. But a few months 
passed ere the French, many of whom scarcely 
remembered the days of the Bourbon kings, 
got a taste of Bourbon rule. True, Louis 
XVI 1 1., before taking the crown, had prom- 
ised in writing certain reforms; but scarcely 
was the ink dry upon the writing than he set 
about breaking his promises. Coming to the. 
throne with the idea of the divine right of 
kings, and wishing to overthrow every sem- 
blance of authority that the people had gained, 
and to bring back the days of the old monarchy 
when the people had no right which the nobles 
were bound to respect, France soon awakened 
to a realization that something had gone out 
of its national life. 

A congress of nations had been called to 
[219] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

assemble at Vienna to settle matters of dispute 
that had arisen out of the Napoleonic wars. 
While this congress was in session Napoleon, 
learning of the plot to remove him from Elba 
to St. Helena, determined that the time was 
ripe for him to return to France, rally about 
him his supporters, and seek to recover that 
which he had lost. It was a bold design, with 
less than a thousand men at his command and 
the armies of all Europe against him, but for 
months he had been secretly plotting with his 
friends throughout France and he knew that 
the army was with him. He had given four 
hundred of his soldiers furloughs and, sending 
them to France, saw to it that they scattered 
themselves among the soldiery and revived the 
hope in the hearts of the heroes of Napoleon's 
battles that their old commander would soon 
return. 

On the evening of February 25th, 1815, 
Pauline gave a ball to which all the officers of 
the Elbese army were invited. A brig and six 
small boats had been made ready and at mid- 
night of that night the soldiers were mustered 
by beat of drum and found themselves on board 
ship ere they could ask for what purpose. 
When, far out at sea, they learned that they 
were bound for France, their joy was uncon- 
[220] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
strained, cries of " Vive Fempereur " arising on 
all sides. On March 2d, after a perilous voy- 
age during which the brig barely escaped cap- 
ture, Napoleon and his men stood on the sacred 
soil of France. So quietly had the expedition 
been planned and so stealthily had it proceeded 
that not a soul believed it possible that Napo- 
leon was present when a handful of men started 
on the road to Paris crying his name. Early 
the morning of their arrival the Httle force 
passed through the town of Grasse, where the 
whole population was crowded out lipon the 
road to receive him with every show of joy and 
affection. Two days later they reached Gap 
amid popular acclamations. Here he issued a 
proclamation with these ringing words: 

" Soldiers, we have not been beaten. In my 
exile I have heard your voice. I have arrived 
once more among you, past all obstacles and all 
perils. . . . Take again the eagles which you 
furled at Ulm, at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Mont- 
mirail. Come and range yourselves under the 
banners of your old chief. Victory shall march 
at the charging steps. The eagle with the 
national colors shall fly from steeple to steeple 
— on to the towers of Notre Dame. In your 
old age, surrounded and honored by your fel- 
low citizens, you shall be heard with respect 
[ 221 J 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

when you recount your high deeds. You then 
shall say with pride : ' I also was one of that 
great army which entered twice within the walls 
of Vienna, which took Rome and Berhn and 
Madrid and Moscow — and which delivered 
Paris from the stain printed on it by domestic 
treason and the occupation of strangers.' " 

At one point Napoleon came upon a bat- 
talion sent to arrest his advance. Dismounting 
from his horse and followed by a hundred of 
his guard with their arms reversed, he strode 
forward to within a hundred paces of the 
enemy. Throwing open his surtout and exhib- 
iting the star of the Legion of Honor he cried : 

" If there be among you a soldier who desires 
to kill his general — his emperor — let him do 
it now. Here I am." 

The miraculous influence of that voice and 
that presence drove every soldier in the oppos- 
ing ranks into the arms of his old commander, 
and together they marched on toward Paris. 
Near Grenoble they came upon the Seventh 
Regiment of the line, and this, though com- 
manded by an officer of noble family promoted 
by Louis XVIIL, broke ranks, and shouting, 
" Long live Napoleon," joined themselves to 
the advancing columns, their commander him- 
self placing upon his cap the tricolor cockade. 
[ 222 ] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
Grenoble, itself, threw open its gates and Na- 
poleon found himself dragged from his horse 
and borne aloft on men's shoulders to the centre 
of the town. Now with 7,000 soldiers he ad- 
vanced on Lyons, a city of 200,000 inhabitants, 
but here, as elsewhere, opposition vanished at 
his approach. Lyons was the second city of 
France and he entered it in triumph. 

An edict was sent out from Paris proclaim- 
ing Napoleon an outlaw and offering rewards 
for his capture. Then it began to dawn upon 
Louis XVIII. that the army and the people 
were with the " outlaw " and that nothing 
could prevent his taking possession of Paris 
itself. Indeed, at Lyons, Napoleon was issu- 
ing decrees and proclamations as of old, as the 
Emperor of the French. Marshal Ney, " the 
bravest of the brave," volunteered his services 
and that of his troops to Napoleon, and on 
March 17th their forces were joined at 
Auxerre. On March 19th Napoleon slept once 
more at the chateau of Fontainebleau. On the 
20th, in a carriage, Napoleon advanced toward 
Paris, right into the face of a large force pre- 
pared to defend the capital under Marshal 
MacDonald. No sooner was the person of 
Napoleon recognized by MacDonald's troops 
than they burst from their ranks and sur- 
[223] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

rounded their old emperor with cries of con- 
gratulation and affection, MacDonald himself 
fleeing to Paris. Already Louis XVIII. had 
heard the news and was fleeing to the frontiers 
of the Netherlands. On the evening of March 
20th, barely twenty days since landing at 
Cannes, Napoleon entered Paris and was car- 
ried on the shoulders of his men up the great 
staircase of the palace of the Tuileries. Never, 
it is said, was such a scene witnessed in history. 

The startling news that Napoleon was in 
Paris and that the king had fled broke like a 
bombshell on the congress at Vienna. At once 
on recovering from its surprise it issued a 
proclamation declaring that Napoleon Bona- 
parte had placed himself without the pale of 
civil and social relations, and that as an enemy 
and disturber of the tranquillity of the world 
he had rendered himself liable to public ven- 
geance. Then Europe prepared once more for 
war. 

A treaty was entered into by which England, 
Austria, Russia, and Prussia bound themselves 
to each maintain 150,000 troops in arms until 
Napoleon should be either dethroned or reduced 
so low as no longer to endanger the peace of 
Europe. But so eager were His enemies, that 
before sixty days had passed Napoleon found 
[224] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
himself confronted by a combined army of 
over a million men, commanded by the Duke 
of Wellington. 

After fortifying Paris Napoleon left that 
city on the 11th of June to measure himself 
against Wellington. At Beaumont in Bel- 
gium, just over the frontier from France, on 
the 14th he reviewed his army of 135,000 men. 
On the 16th of June he announced two vic- 
tories, those of Quatre-Bras and Ligny, won 
on the way to the Belgian capital. In the 
former the English and the French each lost 
about 5,000 men, and in the latter the Prussians 
lost 20,000 and the French 15,000. In the 
former Wellington commanded the allied 
forces, and in the latter Blucher. 

The allied forces now retired and took posi- 
tion near the village of Waterloo. The position 
of the Duke of Wellington was about a mile 
and a half in advance of the town, on a rising 
ground having a gentle slope before it, and still 
farther on, a plain of about a mile in breadth. 
Beyond the plain were the heights of La Belle 
AUiance. The duke had with him 72,000 to 
90,000 men. Blucher, with a like number of 
men, was but a few hours' march distant. Well- 
ington formed his army into three lines, the 
first containing the best of his troops; the 
[225] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

second such as had suffered in the battle at 
Quatre-Bras, and the third, the cavalry. The 
line was in convex form, dropping back toward 
a forest at either extremity in which in case of 
defeat it might find protection. Wellington had 
sent to Blucher asking that two divisions of 
Prussians be sent him, and Blucher had replied 
that he would march at once to his support. 
The roads were in horrible condition, the rain 
falling in torrents. Napoleon's purpose was 
to beat Wellington before Blucher could reach 
the scene. His army consisted of 70,000 men. 
Wellington's army had rested during the night ; 
Napoleon's had been on the march. When 
Napoleon, from the heights of La Belle Alli- 
ance, saw the English army standing before 
him he cried: 

" At last, then, I have these English in mj'' 
grasp." 

At eleven o'clock Sunday morning, the 18th, 
the French opened with their cannon, and Je- 
rome Bonaparte, with 6,000 men, charged upon 
Wellington's right, with the result that the 
English withstood the onset and finally forced 
back the assaulting columns. Another attempt 
was made by a body of French infantry and 
cavalry on the English centre, but without a 
result favorable to either side. Then another 
[226] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
assault was made on the English right by the 
French cavalry. The English formed them- 
selves in a double line of squares protected in 
front by a battery of thirty cannon. The 
French cavalry charged the artillerymen and 
drove them from their guns and then rode 
fiercely on the living squares, but they paid 
dearly for their bravery, for the greater part 
of the attacking column was destroyed. 

By four o'clock the English had lost 
10,000 and the French 15,000, five thousand 
men for every hour. It was then Napoleon 
saw that Blucher, at the head of his Prus- 
sian columns, had arrived, and it became 
evident that unless he could strike a deci- 
sive blow at once he must be overpowered. 
Forming his guard — the flower of his 
army, the best fighting men in the world — 
into two columns, and putting at their head 
Marshal Ney, he sent them against the Eng- 
lish, who presented an unbroken front four 
deep, with the ends of the line moving forward. 
Into this concave line of living fire the brave 
heroes of Napoleon's army threw themselves 
with reckless abandon. Four battalions of the 
" Old Guard " had been left in the rear as a 
reserve about Napoleon. The Duke of Well- 
ington placing himself at the head of his line 
[227] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

gave the order to advance. Nothing could 
withstand the impetuous onset. Then Blucher, 
with his Prussians, struck the flank of the 
struggling guards and sent them flying in 
every direction. Napoleon's last battle had 
been fought and his star had gone down. 
Forty thousand lay dead on the field of Water- 
loo. 

Napoleon watched the course of events 
through his spy-glass, and noting that his 
" Old Guard " had given way, shouted, " All 
is lost for the present ! " and hurried off the 
field, riding toward Charleroi. Within twenty- 
four hours he was in Paris, alone, and on the 
morning of June 22d the following proclama- 
tion appeared, addressed to the French people : 

" Frenchmen! In commencing war for the 
upholding of national independence I relied on 
the union of all eiForts, all wills, and all au- 
thorities. I had every reason to hope for suc- 
cess and I braved all the declarations of the 
allies against me. Circumstances appear to be 
changed. I offer myself as a sacrifice to the 
hatred of the enemies of France. May they 
prove sincere in their declarations, and to have 
aimed only at me! My political life is ended, 
and I proclaim my son, under the title of Na- 
[228] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
poleon II., Emperor of the French. The pres- 
ent ministers will provisionally form the coun- 
cil of government. Unite for the public safety 
if you would remain a nation. Done at the 
palace Elysee, June 22d, 1815. 

" Napoleon." 

This terminates what is known as the second 
reign — " the one hundred days " of Napo- 
leon. On the 24th of June the fallen emperor 
retired to Malmaison, where he found himself 
watched by his enemies. On July 3d he went 
to Rochef ort with the intention of taking ship 
for America; but here he was informed that 
a British battleship was lying off the coast 
ready to intercept his passage. 

He now placed himself under the pro- 
tection of England, voluntarily going on 
board the English ship " Bellerophon," and 
on the 23d of July gazed for the last time 
on the coast of France. On July 31st an 
English officer appeared on board the "Bel- 
lerophon " and announced the final resolution 
of the British Government, namely: First, 
that General Bonaparte should not be landed 
in England but removed forthwith to St. 
Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 
as being the situation in which, more than 
[229] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
any other at their command, the government 
thought to secure no possibihty of escape, and 
the indulgence to himself of personal freedom 
and all exercises might be reconciled. Sec- 
ondly, with the exception of Savary and 
L'Allemand, he might take with him any three 
officers he chose, as also his sUrgeon and twelve 
domestics. 

Napoleon at once protested against being 
considered a prisoner of war, saying that he 
had come on board an English vessel as he 
would have entered an English village^ volun- 
tarily, and not as a prisoner. He objected to 
the title given him, General Bonaparte, say- 
ing that he was as much the Emperor of Elba 
as Louis was King of France, and that the 
climate and confinement at St. Helena would 
kill him, ending with a statement that he would 
not go. Finally, however, he received with 
equanimity the word from Admiral Sir George 
Cockburn that he was ready to receive him on 
board the " Northumberland " and convey him 
to St. Helena, and he embarked, taking with 
him Count and Countess Bertrand and their 
three children who had been with him at Elba, 
and four others, among them an Irish naval 
surgeon. In addition, twelve upper domestics 
of the imperial household followed their 
[ 230 ] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
master, making twenty-four in all. The Brit- 
ish Government took possession of some 
$20,000 which he had with him, announcing 
that they would provide for his establishment. 
His plate, chiefly gold, and of mhch value, was 
left to him to do with as he pleased. 

On the 15th of October, 1815, after a voyage 
of about seventy days, the " Northumberland " 
reached St. Helena. Landing, Napoleon took 
up his residence in a small cottage until a 
suitable abode could be prepared for him. In 
the course of two months a villa was made 
ready and the fallen emperor took possession 
of it December 10th. 

In this villa he had for himself a suite of 
rooms consisting of salon, eating room, library, 
billiard room, small study, bedroom, and bath- 
room. He had a good library, superior serv- 
ants, and some $50,000 a year, with the under- 
standing that if he required more it would be 
forthcoming. With an officer in attendance, 
he was permitted to go over any part of the 
island to the extent of twelve miles, and with- 
out an attendant he could go for a distance of 
folir miles. All of his correspondence had to 
pass through the hands of the governor of the 
island. His person was required once in every 
[231 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

twenty-four hours to be visible to some British 
officer. 

Napoleon's life at St. Helena in ordinary 
times appears to have been as follows : He rose 
early and at once either took a horseback ride 
or dictated some part of the history of his hf e. 
He breakfasted about ten or eleven, read or 
dictated until between two and three, and then 
received visitors. He afterwards rode for sev- 
eral hours and then read or dictated until 
nearly eight, at which time dinner was served. 
A game of chess, a French tragedy read aloud, 
or conversation closed the evening. All 
through his life he had seemed to need httle 
sleep, so that after he had retired he generally 
had some one read to him until far into the 
night. 

Napoleon was very careful of his person; 
his dress at St. Helena was that of an emperor 
— a green uniform faced with red of the chas- 
seurs of the Guard, with the star and cordon 
of the Legion of Honor. 

From the spring of 1817 Napoleon's health 
gradually failed, and with the weakening of 
his health his mind weakened also. Fits of 
long silence and profound melancholy were 
now frequent. He was accustomed to say, 
" Now I am nothing — my strength and f acul- 
[ 232 ] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
ties forsake me — I no longer live ; I only 
exist." 

During ten days in April, 1821, he occupied 
himself with drawing up his last will, in which 
he bequeathed his Orders and a specimen of 
every article in. his wardrobe to his son. He 
gave directions that his body should be opened 
after death that information as to the cause of 
his death might be sent to his son. He de- 
scribed to the priests on the island the manner 
in which he wished his body to be laid out, say- 
ing: " I believe in God and am of the religion 
of my father. I was born a Catholic and will 
fulfil all the duties of that church and receive 
the assistance which she administers." 

On the 3d of May the last sacraments of the 
church were administered to him. On the 4th 
and 5th a tremendous storm swept over the 
island, and at half past five in the evening 
of the 6th he pronounced the words, " France, 
the Army, Josephine," and passed away. 

Napoleon's age at the time of his death was 
fifty-two. The cause of his death was cancer 
of the stomach. It was his desire that his body 
should be buried on the banks of the Seine, 
among the French people whom he had loved 
so well, but this was impossible, so a grave was 
prepared near the villa in which he had died, 
[233] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

under weeping willows, where he had long had 
his favorite evening seat. Prepared for hurial, 
the body was clothed in the uniform of the 
chasseurs of his Guard, and viewed by the 
whole population of the island. Each officer, 
pausing in turn before the body, pressed re- 
spectfully the cold hand of his dead com- 
mander. Over his feet was spread the military 
cloak which he wore at Marengo. A party of 
English Grenadiers bore the body to the tomb ; 
the admiral's ship fired minute guns, while the 
priest read the service of the church. Upon 
the coffin when lowered into the grave was 
placed a great stone. 

Nearly twenty years after the death of Na- 
poleon (October 15, 1840) his sepulchre was 
opened, and the body of the illustrious dead 
carried to the French ship, " Bellepoule," by the 
son of Louis Philippe, and borne to the shores 
of France. On December 9th the vessel 
reached the mouth of the Seine, greeted by the 
loving acclaim of a whole nation. Napoleon 
had re-entered France in glory. On December 
15th, amid unequalled pomp and ceremony, 
the body of the dead emperor was borne to the 
Invalides, where about it France gathered in 
veneration and love. On the coffin lay the 
chapeau the hero wore at Eylau, his sword and 
[234] 



ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
imperial crown; and over these waved the 
standards taken at Austerhtz. The resting- 
place of Napoleon was at last upon the banks 
of the Seine among the people he loved. 

Men will go on to the end of time discuss- 
ing and disputing over the character of Napo- 
leon. There was much in him that was admi- 
rable; much that deserves our respect and 
praise. How much of the errors of his life 
were due to a sincere love of his country and a 
desire to serve her, we shall never know. 
" Fortune spoiled him " might well be written 
as an epitaph on his monument. Before he was 
thirty years old he was the master of great 
power and the mover of great events. With- 
otit condoning his faults we can at least express 
a wonder that amid the glare of earthly glory 
and temptation this man should remain so 
strong, so brave, so resolute, so virtuous to the 
end. No one who studies the changes wrought 
in France and throughout Europe as a result 
of his life can say that his career was an un- 
mixed evil. He broke down everywhere the 
barriers of custom and prejudice, and taught 
the equality of men before the law as they had 
never learned it before. Distinctions of caste 
built upon hereditary right gave place to dis- 
tinctions grounded upon merit. Napoleon was 
[ 235 ] 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

a despot and a tyrant, but, in the main, he used 
his despotism and his tyranny to estabhsh law 
and order, to spread the blessings of education 
and to elevate true manhood and womanliood. 



THE END. 



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